I thought I knew you
by Buffy Anne Halliwell
Summary: Paige opens up about her past to her sisters when mourning her best friend's death. But then she realizes she didn't know her as well as she thought.
1. Chapter 1

_Timelime:  
Charmed - after the end of season 4, before season 5. And a change is that Paige used to live in L.A, her dad got transferred not long after adopting her. Years later Paige returned to search for her biological family.  
BtVS - at the end of season 5, part of season 6._

_*Note, the Monks altered Paige's memory too because she knows the Summers family._

_And obviously I own nothing, just the idea._

Dawn was at the basement of her house arranging a pile of boxes in a corner below the stairs; it's been three days since her sister's death and Willow and Tara were moving in with her to take care of each other, the witches were upstairs in what used to be Joyce's room unpacking their stuff while Dawn, wanting to be alone for a while offered herself to take down the boxes that contained her mom's belongings.

A box fell down and most of its contents hit the floor, with a sigh Dawn kneeled down and started to gather all the stuff back in the box, amongst the fallen things, she found a box with several photos in it, the young Summers glanced some of them and noticed they were photos from before moving to Sunnydale.

"I didn't even exist back then," she whispered sadly still feeling the weight of being the key that costed her sister's life. Sitting more comfortably on the floor she started to look at all of the pictures, "I miss you so much," she said holding a photo of herself, her mother and her sister.

Going through a couple more pictures she found one of Buffy hugging her friend. Dawn remembered that she was like another sister to the Summers girls, she and Buffy were very close and Dawn loved to hang out with them, even if Buffy complained about it.

She wiped some tears she didn't realize she cried and stood up, cleaned the rest of the fallen things and went upstairs.

"Willow, can I borrow your laptop for a while?" the teen asked to the wiccan.  
"Uhm... sure Dawnie," she replied looking around not sure where her laptop was packed.  
"It's on that one, with our books," Tara said smiling at her distraught girlfriend while pointing at an open box.  
"Here you go," Willow handed Dawn the laptop, "need help with anything," she asked with a small sad smile noticing the girl's teary eyes.  
"No it's ok, just want to go online to distract myself, thanks," she replied and walked away to lock herself in her room.

By noon the next day in San Francisco, at South Bay Social Services, Paige was at her desk, clearing it from papers, she just finished attending a case and was arranging the paperwork. Once she finished she turned to her computer to get all into the database. After that she decided to take a moment to check her e-mail.

It was mostly work related mails, and a bunch of spam, she scrolled from the older to the newer ones without opening them until one almost at the top caught her attention. It was dated from yesterday, sent by Dawn Summers.

With a smile Paige opened it, she hoped to get news of the Summers girls being at San Francisco, but as she read her smile faded and a shocked expression replaced it.

She excused herself with her boss, and asked to be able to leave saying that the work was done. He was going to deny but seeing the grimm expression on his employee he changed his mind, "sure Paige, everything ok?" he asked.  
"No," she replied sadly, "thank you, see you tomorrow," with that she left.

On her way to the manor, she couldn't take off of her mind the two words that shocked her the most of Dawn's mail, "Buffy died," the thought hurt Paige deeply.

"Hey Missy Paige, you're home early," Piper, who was in the living room greeted her youngest sister.  
"Yeah, finished early," Paige replied feeling a lump in her throat, "I have to make a call," she said walking upstairs not waiting for a reply. Piper frowned and wondered what could be going through her sister's mind that made her act so serious.

Even that Paige had lived with the Halliwells almost over a year, and been through a lot, she still hadn't opened up to them, so far she had only opened up about her parents issue, but no more, the rest of her past still kept it for herself.

In her room, Paige took out her cellphone.  
"Uhm... Hello?" she said unsure when someone she didn't recognize answered her call.  
"Hi, who's this?" Willow asked on the other end, also not recognizing the voice.  
"I'm Paige Matthews, is... is Dawn there?"  
"Hold on a sec."

Paige could hear the woman who answered talking to Dawn, asking if she knew a Paige Matthews, after a short while came Dawn's voice on the phone.  
"Hi Paige," Dawn said with a hint of joy in spite of the situation.  
"Dawnie, you ok?"  
Dawn sighed and her voice trembled, "Paige, it was my fault, she's gone so I could live."  
"Don't say that kiddo, it is not your fault," Paige tried to reasure the teen but found it hard due to the quivering of her own voice, "whatever happened, it was not because of you, don't blame yourself," she said understanding how Dawn must be feeling, after all, she used to blame herself for her parents death.

They talked for a few minutes, both trying to support each other. In the end Paige told her she would go to Sunnydale to have a better talk. She wanted to orb right that instant but knew she had to keep her orbing powers a secret, so she decided to drive instead.

Paige made another call, this time to her boss, briefly telling him what happened and said she would be out of town. Then she headed downstairs looking for Piper.  
"Piper?" she called.  
"Kitchen" her sister yelled.  
The youngest Halliwell entered and immediately drew Piper's attention because of her sadened expression.  
"I have to go out of town for a while," Paige said, "demon attacks had been low anyway, but if you need me I'll orb back.  
"Why?" asked Piper not mad, but concerned.  
Paige hugged herself and sighed, "I got news...bad ones," she was talking slowly, fighting the lump in her throat, "my best friend died and I want to be there for..."  
"Glen?" interrupted Piper with shock and some pain.  
"No," Paige corrected with a grin that did not reach her eyes, "I was lucky to have two best friends... and I need to..." she was saying distracted, not wanting to go into details and talk, her mind was on the desire to be on her way already.  
Piper seemed to understand Paige's thoughts, she gently nodded "go, and don't worry about the demons, Phoebe and I will deal," she said reassuringly.  
"Thanks," Paige said as she grabbed her car keys.  
"You driving there?" asked Piper.  
"Yeah, don't want to risk of exposure," Paige said and headed out.  
"Be careful," Piper said loudly enough to be heard, she heard Paige reply an "I will" and then the front door closed.

On her way, Paige could not help but feel regret that since she became a Charmed one, she hadn't been able to call Buffy as often as she used to, and neither answer most of her calls because of being busy vanquishing demons or researching about them, or learning how to make potions.  
They used to talk at least once a month, but the last year they had talked at most 4 or 5 times. Their relationship developed more in leaving each other voice mails than actual calls.

She felt bad for not being able to be there for Buffy when Riley left, or when Joyce passed away, while she had been dealing with making her sisters believe her about Cole being evil, then with him being the Source and Phoebe his Queen, amongst learning to master her powers. She wanted to tell Buffy everything, sure she told her she found her biological family and that she moved in with them, but she wanted more than anything to tell her the family secret. But after what happened to Glen and the rat demons, she didn't want to put Buffy in any danger. She had no idea Buffy struggled with the same sort of secret.

Paige was by the outskirts of Sunnydale in a couple of hours, and as she drove her way to Revello street she remembered her last phone call with Buffy.

"I'm sorry I couldn't called you before, I'm really, really sorry about your mom, I still can't believe it." Paige had said with sorrow.  
"Is ok Paige, I know you've been busy with your sisters, I'd like to spend as much time with them if I were you... family is important... I'm so glad you called," Buffy as always liked feeling the support, even if she couldn't tell Paige the whole truth about her problems.  
"You are my family too, think of me as you're long lost sister, I have practice at that," Paige tried to lighten the mood for her friend.  
"Like a sister who magically appeared one day but I genuinely love and would do anything for her... I can do that," Buffy revealed the truth as usually making it look like metaphor.  
"Indeed... I'm your magical sister," said Paige in her own way to tell the truth, with a hint of humor, or sarcasm, depending on the situation, but this time she didn't use her sarcastic tone, making sure Buffy got the message that she really considered her family.  
"If we're able, we might go there, I want to keep Dawn safe," Buffy said.  
"Safe? how is she dealing with the loss?" Paige wondered if Dawn had hurt herself or others in an attempt to deal.  
"Safe from..." Buffy knew she couldn't tell her that the crazy Hellgod Glory just found out about Dawn being the key she had been looking for, so she went for the first thing that came to mind, "... From the pain, everything here reminds her of mom, and, I want to take her away from here, I'm not so sure where to, but, far."  
"You know you're welcome here."  
"I'll think of it, I can't assure you tho... But hopefully we'll be seeing each other soon."

That was the last time she heard of her, almost two weeks ago. She still didn't know how Buffy died, her mind raced with thoughts of how could it happen, the thought that maybe she went back to get into fights finding her last fatal one; the last time Buffy mentioned going into a fight was when she got into college, with a girl called Sunshine and her dumb pals; also she thought that losing Riley and Joyce became too much for her and decided to end the pain, "no, she's not like that," she whispered to herself discarding the suicide theory, "maybe..." she mumbled as guilt rushed over her, she thought that maybe they had an accident on their way to San Francisco, but something told her that wasn't the reason, Buffy would had let her know they would visit after all, wouldn't she?


	2. Chapter 2

Paige rang the Summer's home doorbell, a blonde young woman opened.

"Hi, I'm Paige, I called earlier," she said introducing herself.  
"Oh, hi, Dawn said you were coming, I'm Tara," she said as she moved to the side so Paige could enter.  
Paige was unsure as if she was welcome or not, not really being invited in, but then Dawn came rushing down the stairs and hugged her fiercely, Tara decided to give them some privacy and went back upstairs, smiling lightly at the newcomer. Dawn broke the embrace and pulled her to the living room.

They sat in silence for a minute, not sure what to say, until Paige broke the silence.

"Is Tara staying with you?" she asked, her role as social service worker kicking in.  
"She and Willow are, it was that or staying with dad."  
Paige knew none were too fond of Hank.  
"He'll come looking for you, Joyce and Buffy being... gone... he automatically gets custody," she said feeling sympathy of Dawn, "I'm sorry... it's my job to look for these kind of details," apologised after seeing the pain in the teen's eyes.  
"He doesn't know yet, actually I hadn't thought much about him lately, it's not as if he's ever around anyway."  
"I understand."

Both were silent again lost in thought.

"Where is Buffy?" Paige asked quietly, "I mean, her, her grave?" She still hadn't grasped the fact that her friend was gone.  
"A place, in the woods," Dawn answered solemnly.

They drove in silence, the only words they shared were Dawn giving Paige the directions. Within a few minutes they parked and walked into the woods.  
"There," said Dawn pointing ahead.  
Paige nodded and the two approached the gravestone, Dawn kneeled in front of it while Paige stood there, barely breathing, barely moving, she felt numb glancing at her friend's engraved name.

She dropped to her knees, next to Dawn, and let tears flow freely, not bothering in hide or wipe them, the teen also crying leaned on her shoulder. Paige read the inscription over and over again, hoping it would be a nightmare she would soon wake up from, she pictured herself waking up in her room at the manor, call Buffy to tell her about her dream causing the blonde to laugh about it and maybe blame it to Paige's reencounter with alcohol.

But she never awakened, she still sat there reading at the inscription 'Buffy Anne Sumers, 1981 - 2001, beloved sister, devoted friend,' but even that she read it many times, she just started to ponder about the last part, 'she saved the world, a lot.' She asked Dawn about it, and she just shrugged and said that it seemed propper some how, because Buffy helped a lot of people. Paige didn't question it, after all, she was one of those people.

Paige stayed in Sunnydale that night, she took the oportunity to get to know Willow and Tara in person, Buffy talked to her about her friends, just basic stuff.

When Paige talked to Willow and Tara about the chance of Hank taking Dawn away, they come to an agrement of not telling him. Willow taking a mental note on fixing the BuffyBot and not let any mortal or demon know the Slayer was gone.

Paige went back to San Francisco the next day, she arrived early in the afternoon, ate something, took a shower and the rest of the day didn't left her room.

At night, Phoebe placed food items over a tray.  
"You're thinking what I'm thinking," Piper said joining her in the kitchen.  
"Do you think this will be enough?" Phoebe asked moving aside so that Piper could see what was on the tray.  
Piper jiggled a little, "I didn't even know we had that different kinds of cereal," the tray had a bowl with different cereal mixed together and falling over it.  
"Well, comfort food is about the comfort, not much about the food," Phoebe justified herself while taking the tray and heading to the stairs, Piper close behind, "besides, I can't cook," the middle sister stated.

Piper knocked on Paige's door while opening it to peek inside.  
"Hey missy, you ok in there?" She asked, "can we come in?"  
"Sure," Paige replied not taking her eyes off from something in her hands. It was obvious she'd been crying.  
Her sisters sat on each side of the bed, Phoebe placed the tray in front of Paige who sat cross legged on the bed still staring down.  
"Brought you dinner," Phoebe said trying to cheer her up.  
"Not hungry."  
"Is that her?" Piper asked softly after noticing that Paige had been staring at a picture in her hands, of herself and a blonde young woman.  
Paige sniffed and wiped the tears off of her face.  
"Yes," she said softly caressing the photo.  
"Is there anything we can do for you?" Asked Phoebe gently moving a strain of Paige's hair.  
"Bring her back?" Paige half joked, half hoped.  
"You know we can't."  
"Yeah, I know, I just wish I had been more in touch with her this last year... we used to share everything... And so much happened to me and I couldn't tell her."

Piper looked at the picture, in it Paige seemed so happy, she's never seen Paige smiling that brightly in the time they've known her. She also noticed that Paige's friend seemed no older than her youngest sister, it pained her that someone could die that young.

"We met five years ago, during that time she's helped me a lot," Paige started finding it comforting to talk about her to her sisters.  
"The first thing I did when I met her was to mock her name," she continued with a loopsided smile at the memory.  
"What was her name?" Asked Piper with a small smile of her own glad that in spite of everything, Paige was focusing on happy memories.  
"Buffy," replied smiling fondly, "her boyfriend kinda cheated on her... with me."

_**Flashback  
Hemery High, Los Angeles 1995**_

A 15 year old Buffy was starting as a freshman, a 19 year old Paige was a starting as a senior.

Paige had lost her foster parents last year, after that she dropped school and just returned to repeat her senior year. She had been known for being a troublemaker since her first year at Hemery high, and after her parents died she acted even more rebel. The loss, and moving away to live with her foster mother's sister was a change Paige wasn't prepared for, she used to smoke daily, and drank every once in a while, but after that she started drinking every day.

On the other hand, Buffy started with the right foot, soon she became cheerleader and was with the popular crew, she started dating a senior guy named Jeff who was captain of the basketball team. Seemed that her life was everything a teen girl would hoped for.

It wasn't even the middle of schoolyear when Buffy started to change her behavior, she started to get involved in fights, skipped school, and was often seen with an older man most of the time.

Jeff, with his girlfriend never around anymore, felt free to hit on any other girl he wanted. He saw Paige sitting alone outside of the school, she was smoking and Jeff felt attracted to the rebel looking girl.

Jeff and Paige gathered almost everyday mostly to make out, until one day Buffy caught them.  
"Buffy... wha... What are you doing here?" Jeff managed to ask nerviously.  
"Buffy?... Weird name," Paige laughed, "did you go all the way to the stereotype and became a cheerleader too?" she mocked.  
Buffy ignored her and turned her attention to Jeff.  
"What's going on? Who is she?" Buffy asked her former boyfriend, jealousy evident.  
"I uhm... I left you a message."  
"Message? ... What message?  
"The one... Where I think we should see other people..." Jeff said lamely.  
"You broke up with me on a message?!"  
"Don't overreact Buff... A guy's got his needs."  
"Goodbye Jeff," Buffy said and walked away.  
"Finally just the two of us," Jeff said to Paige who smacked him in the head, not really hard.  
"I don't think so... feel free to talk to my answering machine if you want to," Paige said and ran after Buffy.

"Hey! Wait up!" Paige yelled after Buffy who didn't stop. She didn't know why but she felt the need to apologise to her.  
"Hey, listen, I'm sorry, I didn't know he was seeing somebody else." She said once she catched up with Buffy.  
"Is ok, I don't have time for this sort of things anyway," Buffy said not stopping and not looking at her. Paige noticed the dark look on the blonde and knew something worried her more than her boyfrien's stunt. Paige had seen that stare before, in herself, the stare of someone who's been through a lot and holds in a lot of pain. Immediately she felt identified with the younger girl.

Buffy however didn't pay much attention to Paige that day.

**_End of Flashback_**

"I tried to make amends with her, I just felt that we both were going through hard times and I wanted to help her, hoping somehow that by doing something for somebody else would distract me from my own issues," Paige explained her sisters who were silently hearing her story, both liking the fact of getting to know more about their baby sister's past.

"A couple of weeks after that," Paige continued, "I went out along with some friends, we were drinking and smoking at a park that night, then some... weird looking guy approached me"  
"Weird looking?" Piper interrupted with a frown.  
"I... don't remember very well, I was drunk," Paige said sheepishly, "he attacked me... I kicked him and next thing I know, Buffy is there fighting him... we became friends after that."

**_Flashback  
Los Angeles, 1995_**

Paige and some other guys from school were at the park, they had been smoking and drinking for hours. Paige enjoyed the feeling of the alcohol in her system, it made her forget about everything and felt free. At night she was walking back home, feeling lightheaded, then she heard a voice behind her.  
"Why the rush?" a man asked.  
Before she could turn around the man moved so fast and was right in front of Paige holding her by the wrists pinning her against a tree. She didn't had time to react due to her drunken state, she found herself unable to move, staring at the lumpy man's forehead.

The man sniffed her neck in a way that made Paige feel unconfortable, by instinct she rose her knee hitting the man right between his legs, taking the opportunity to run away, she lost her balance, clumsly she rose to her feet and kept moving forward.

Paige didn't have the chance to move any further, her attacker was over her again. She tried to yell but he put a hand over her mouth. He leaned over but before he could do any move, he went flying backwards, next Paige saw a hand hovering over her, offering help to stand up.  
"Come on, you have to go!" Buffy urged.  
Paige took the offering hand and before she could say anything the attacker was back on his feet and punched Buffy in the jaw, she quickly recovered and roundhouse kicked him.  
"You again?" muttered the man in frustration when he got a better look at Buffy, "until next time," he said and fled.  
"Always falling for cliche lines," Buffy said with a sigh before turning to Paige, "you ok?"  
"Yes, thanks to you Buffy," Paige said feeling the haze of alcohol wearing off due to the adrenaline. She noticed how Buffy tensed.  
"How do you know my name?" She asked suspiciously, not recognizing her.  
"From school, I'm Paige, I was with Jeff," Paige said "when you two broke up... or more accurately when you found out he had broken up with you..." Paige babbled, helding her head, she was starting to have a headache.  
"Hmm... I remember now... so uhm... How is he?" The blonde asked, in a neutral tone.  
"Dunno, haven't seen him ever since... how good a guy that doesn't have the guts to talk face to face can be?"  
Buffy laughed a little, "Yeah, I wanted to smack him the second he talked about the message."  
"Ha! Don't worry about that, I did."  
"You did?" Buffy couldn't hide her amusement.  
"Yeah, right after you walked away," Paige replied rubbing her temples, but even that, she was smiling, "don't know why... I just feel like it."  
"Let's get you home," Buffy said still grinning at Paige, "no offense but, I think I might get drunk just by smelling your breath and clothes," the blonde joked, but Paige could see concern in her eyes.  
"What can I say... it's liberating," Paige simply replied, not feeling the need to deny it or avoid the topic.  
"You shouldn't risk yourself, this late, places like this."  
"Neither should you."  
Both teens smiled gently at each other, liking the fact that they didn't treat each other like freaks as most of the kids at school treated them.

**_End of Flashback_**

"It's good she helped you out," Piper said somewhat scared of what might had happened to her sister if the attacker had gone far, "but what was she thinking, risking herself like that."  
"Her parents were getting divorced, things were falling apart for her, she dealt by fighting."

**_Flashback_**

Three weeks later after the park incident, Paige and Buffy walked together through the school halls, they had been hanging out ever since.  
"You got into another fight?" Paige asked her friend pointing at a bruise on Buffy's left temple.  
She pulled her hair over her face to cover it, "yeah, but nothing I couldn't manage."  
"Why do you keep doing it? You'll get hurt some day," asked Paige as they reached her locker and she took a small flask taking a sip.  
"Issues," Buffy said, "why do you keep doing that?" Buffy now pointed at the flask.  
Paige sighed, "issues," replied with a small laugh.

Buffy opened up deciding then and there to trust her, even though they met a few weeks ago, Paige had been supportive and Buffy got at ease around her; "my parents are on the verge of divorce, I over heard them discussing about me, and how I was acting different, skipping classes, getting into trouble, then the discussions started to be more often... I was going through some changes, and things won't ever be the same... I know I'm the reason they're getting divorced... so the fighting is some sort of escape..."

Paige understood her reasons, and watched how Buffy's eyes got teary, she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "last year I found out I was adopted, the news hit me pretty hard and my rebel stage started, I was a troublemaker, and argued with my foster parents on a daily basis; one day, I got into trouble again so the principal asked them to come, they were pissed at me, we were on the car on our way home and I kept on yelling at them, my dad turned to look at me and didn't see a truck coming fast, next thing I know, I'm rolling on the pavement and the car is in flames... it's my fault they're dead... I started drinking more after that... this is my escape," she explained taking another sip of her flask, confused as to why she revealed that to her, it's been her secret ever since, but also she felt she could trust her.

Both stood there, information sinking in, they felt a weight lift from their shoulders and visibly relaxed, they continue walking as if nothing happened, "so, are you going to go to the dance tomorrow?" asked Buffy in a casual tone, but happy that she found someone to trust.  
"We could pretend is your birthday party, don't think I didn't know your birthday was last week." Paige replied.  
"What?" Buffy asked confused, "how..."  
"I overheard Jeff and your former friends mention it... Taking it as an excuse to throw a random party," Paige answered without hint of mockery or sarcasm, "so I say, let's go to the dance and party... escape our messed up realities."  
"Doesn't sound bad," replied Buffy with a smile, "could use some normalcy."  
"You should go with Pike." Paige said with a nudge.  
"I don't think he's into school dances." Said Buffy considering the idea.  
"It's your pretended belated birthday party, he'll come to your sweet sixteen," said with a grin.

_**End of Flashback**_

"That's nice," Phoebe said with a grin, "did you had a good time at the dance?"  
"We almost didn't go... That would had been the best option in the end...that day after school ended we went dress hunting, and later that night Buffy called me, she told me Merrick had been murdered... All I knew about him is that he was Buffy's mentor, she never go into details about him and we never met; Buffy was devastated, and the next night I showed up at her house and convinced to get ready for the dance to cheer up, go for the normal stuff and distract... Turned out, it wasn't as normal as we hoped," Paige said, "some gang crashed the gym it was held, students were murdered," she remembers sadly.  
"Oh God, Paige, that's horrible," a shocked Piper said as she held her baby sister's forearm to offer some support.  
"Buffy faced them, she recognized one of them as Merrick's murderer. Pike and I backed her up but there were so many of them... and their faces were... messed up..." Paige remembers with a frown.  
"You think they might had been demons?" Piper inquired.  
"Now that I know they're real... maybe they were," Paige answered, she wondered if maybe Buffy knew about demons long before her. That would explain a lot.

"What happened to the demons?... err... The gang members," Phoebe asked also believing they were not human.  
"Buffy asked Pike and I to help the rest of our classmates get out, when we made sure that no one was left behind Buffy got out of the gym and blocked the doors, she managed to start a fire inside, she said that the gang fled because of the fire. When the principal found out about her pyro act, he expelled her, and no longer after that, she moved to another city with her mom and sister." Paige said.  
"And did you ever heard from her again?" Phoebe asked her.  
"Yes, we always stayed in touch, and for a couple of months we lived together."

**_Flashback  
Los Angeles 1998_**

"I'll deal with Angel tonight," Buffy said on the phone.  
"Tonight? are you sure you're ready?" Paige asked, with worry on her voice.

Buffy had told Paige about Angel, taking the vampire part out, she kept her posted on everything about her brooding boyfriend, since when they met, to spending the night together, and how he became a jerk after that, stalking her friends and family. Paige once suggested to call the police, but Buffy said she knew that wasn't gonna stop him, he was dangerous.

Paige also knew Buffy was blamed for Kendra's death, and she knew Angel and his people were somehow related to it, and naturally she was worried about Buffy dealing with Angel, she didn't know what Buffy had planned, she just hoped she would be allright.

On the other hand, Buffy was worried about Paige too. She knew Paige moved out of her aunt's house, and even that she managed to get a job and a place to live, her drinking problem was growing. But Paige didn't see it as a problem, she was in denyal.

"I'm sure and willing," Buffy answered on the phone, "whatever happens, this will be the end of my problem with Angel.  
"I wish I were there for you, you sure you don't need any help?"  
"I've got some unexpected back up, everything will be all right... I wish you were here too, but it's better to know you're out of harm's way."

Later before sunrise, Buffy called Paige again from a payphone a few blocks from Angel's mansion.  
"Hello?" answered Paige more sleep than awake.  
"It's me,"  
Paige sprang of the bed, "Buffy! Thank god it's you, everything ok?" she soon regretted the movement as her head throbbed and everything started spinning.  
"Angel's gone..." Buffy said trying to hide all the bottled up emotions, but couldn't fool Paige.  
"Gone as in away? Or..." She asked while taking a couple of aspirins from her nightstand.  
"I... Sent him to hell," Buffy said, really wanting to tell Paige all the truth but had to settle with knowing Paige would take the literal truth as a metaphor.  
"I don't know what to say, except that it was for the best, after everything he put you through..."  
"That's not all," Buffy interrupted with cracked voice, "After what happened to Kendra, Snyder expelled me from school and... mom kicked me out..."  
"What?!" Paige asked full of concern and surprise, "but why, because of Angel? or don't tell me she believes you killed Kendra?" she rambled, feeling angry at Joyce, not believing her to be that kind of parent.  
"A bit of both, I don't know what to do, I just want to run away and dissapear."  
"You can come and stay at my place, it's not much but it's enough, and you won't be alone."  
"Sounds good... Paige, I really apreciate it."  
"Don't mention it, do you want me to go pick you up? It'll take me a couple of hours."  
"No, I want to get out of here as fast as possible, I'll just pick up some clothes and take a bus... see you soon," Buffy said feeling relieved that at least she had someone to turn to, Xander hadn't been very supportive with the whole Angel/Angelous deal, and she didn't want Willow and Giles to get hurt again, so a fresh start seemed like the best option.

The sun was coming up when they hung up, Buffy went straight home and got to her room through the window, quickly and quietly gathered as many clothes she could get in a duffle bag, wrote a note for her mom and sister and fled, leaving the window open behind her.

Paige gathered all the empty bottles she had lying around her place, she saw a bottle with some whisky left, she took it to her lips and drank it on one long sip, then dropped the empty bottle in the platic garbage bag where she dropped the others.

Buffy got out of the bus as soon as it arrived to LA, and was relieved to find Paige there already waiting for her.

They climbed into Paige's old black Jetta, Buffy wasn't surprised to find some empty cans of beer scatered under the seat, and neither showed surprise when Paige reached for the glove compartment to grab her same old flask. But she let the matter drop, she didn't want to lecture Paige now, and she was sure Paige wouldn't listen.

**_End of Flashback_**


	3. Chapter 3

"I was supposed to help her but she ended up helping me, I helped her get a job in the dinner I was working on back then, she insisted on being called Anne, her second name; we worked different shifts, so we barely saw each other, and when we did, we ended up arguing because she was worried about me drinking that much, and I was so stubborn to listen," Paige continued narrating to her sisters, "I got a couple of wake up calls that summer."

_**Flashback  
Los Angeles 1998**_

Paige entered the dinner to start her night shift, Buffy was cleaning up her last table of the day, her shift was earlier than Paige's.  
"You ok?" asked Buffy taking in Paige's appearance, her hair looked greasy, her eyes were red and she could barely keep her balance.

As Buffy walked closer to her friend, she could smell the strong scent of alcohol.  
"Fi...ne," Paige said trying to sound normal but the word came out really slow.  
Buffy pulled her to the back of the kitchen to have some privacy.  
"Paige, you can't keep like this, it's not good for you." Buffy said, concern in her voice.  
Paige snorted, "not this again... come on Buff, i'm not harming anybody," she said still talking slowly.  
"You're harming yourself."  
"No, I'm helping myself... Keeps pain away... and it's fun."  
"Keeping pain away won't make it dissapear, you have to face it and deal it to move on."  
"Why should I listen you you... Anne, you're running away too, you're hiding, I'm not seeing you dealing and moving on, so cut the ethics crap, you're in no position to tell if I'm right or wrong," by the end Paige was yelling at her.  
Buffy didn't reply, she just turned and made her way to the exit.  
"See? Runaway!" Paige yelled at her.

Mitch, the dinner's owner came out of his small improvised office and asked Paige to enter.  
"Paige," he said as she sat, "you know I'd like to help you more, but you can't work here anymore, I'm sorry but..."  
"What?, why the hell not." Paige snapped.  
"You have an attitud problem, I've received complains from customers, you often show up late or not at all, I need someone who really wants to work."  
"Just, give me a chance," Paige said in a soft tone.  
"I've given you many chances... I'm sorry Paige."

With that, Paige left, she started to feel real bad to herself, maybe they were right, and she had to change.  
She walked as fast as her dizzyness allowed, hoping to catch up with Buffy on the way home. She spotted her a few blocks away from the dinner, talking to a tall blonde woman. Paige slowed her pace thinking of what to say to apologise, then she saw everything as in slow motion, how Buffy got hit hard in the legs by the bumper of a truck. Her body snaped down hard onto the hood of the truck and slided into the windshield, she bounced back and off of the hood as the truck screeched to a halt. She hit the pavement, flipped over backward and rolled to a stop in the middle of the street.

"Oh no," was all Paige mumbled as she made her way to the crowd, but by the time she reached them Buffy had split.  
"Where is she?!" Paige asked to the young blonde who was just talking to Buffy before.  
"I don't know, she just ran," the girl answered visibly shaken, pointing in the direction where Buffy took of.

Paige ran, fearing that Buffy might be hurt, but she still was too drunk to think clearly and her movenents weren't as coordinated as she wished at that moment. She headed back to where she parked her car, hoping to find Buffy at their apartment.

As she walked to her car, out of habit, Paige took her flask from her back pocket and drank what was left, but got a little frustrated when there was no more left. Placing herself in the front seat, she reached under the passenger's seat and grabbed a bottle of Jack Daniel's, there was only half of it left.

As she drove, almost getting home, she looked down to her lap where she had the bottle, it spilled over her, "dammit," she sad and threw the bottle to the passenger's seat, when she returned her glance to the road she pushed the breaks and steered to avoid a distracted old woman who just kept walking in the middle of the street unaware of her surroundings. Paige crashed against a post. The old woman kept on walking and repeating "I'm nobody," over and over again.

It happened around the corner of where Paige and Buffy lived; Buffy looked out of the window when she heard the crash, immediately she recognized the old jetta.

Paige wasn't unconscious, but she was shocked to move, the image of Buffy being rolled over mixed together to the image of the old woman she almost hit. She could hear someone calling her name in the distance, but didn't react, she remained there looking blankly at her hands over the wheel. Suddenly someone opened the door and gently grabed her by the shoulders.

"Paige... Paige!... are you all right?... talk to me!" Buffy called as she gently shook her to get a response.  
Paige turned to face her and as soon as she recognized her threw herself at her arms, holding her tightly, "I almost hit her... Oh God, Buffy! I saw a truck hit you, and I almost did the same, I don't wanna hurt anybody, Buffy, I wanted to make sure you were ok... I drove and I saw her in he middle of the street..."  
"Sshh, it's ok," Buffy cut her friend's ramble, "let's get you inside," she said as she helped Paige get out of the car.

Once inside of their place, Buffy gave Paige a glass of water. They sat in silence, Buffy waited patiently to Paige to drink.

"We're gonna need a new car," Paige said unsure of what else to say.  
"Forget about the car, you could have hurt yourself."  
"I know," Paige said, regret evident in her tone, "or I could have hurt somebody else, it could had been you, i saw how the truck hit you."  
"I'm ok... the bright side is that we both are," Buffy said trying to make her feel better, but she didn't even believe her own words, "the dark side is... we're not ok..."  
"We're a mess aren't we?... I always thought I was strong, that I could handle things, but... I'm weak, I'm more lost than ever and... I don't even care... It's like, I deserve to be lost and, I guess I got used to it so it doesn't really matter..." Paige said as if a revelation hit her.

Buffy shook her head and looked at her straight in the eyes, "you don't deserve it," she said fully convinced about this, "you are strong Paige, you may feel lost but I know you care, you have everything in you to find your way, it's not gonna be easy, and it's hard to know what's to come, but whatever happens, I'll always be there for you, just as you've always been there for me."  
"Have I?" Paige asked.  
"Yes... everytime I feel weak, lost, sad or even bitchy I turn to you because I know you'll show me what to do, you're sort of my guide, I've even seen you as my guardian angel because when things started to get crappier in my already crappy life, you showed up, and cheered me up when I needed and even pull my ears when I deserve it... I know you'll achieve many great things, I have total faith in you."

Paige had tears on her face, no one other than her foster parents had told her that kind of things, if they believed in her why didn't she believe in herself?  
"I really appreciate that," she said with a smile and wiped her tears, "and, speaking of pulling ears, the same goes for you, you're not the runnaway kind, I get that you needed to back off from your problems but you can't hide forever, let's not let past mess with our present, we screwed up, ok bummer, but let's face consequences and move on... what do you say?"  
"See? That's the Paige I know, taking charge and finding solutions... But first thing first, drop the booze, please... stop depending from it to feel free, it's getting you trapped instead."  
"Easier than it sounds... I'll do it if you stop hiding, whatever you're running away from, it's part of who you are now, everything happens for a reason... go back with your family, trust me, family is important, don't waste precious time with fights or missunderstandings."  
"You're right," Buffy replied in though, both sat there thinking on what would be their next step.

"Why don't you look for your birth family?" Buffy asked out of the blue, "it may not bring your parents back, but there's the possibility of get a new family, don't you think?"  
"I don't know," Paige replied not as enthusiastic as Buffy expected, "they gave me up for a reason, I don't think they'll want me in their lives... I mean, they had their chance of having me and they gave up that chance," she ended with a chucke trying to hide the pain.  
"Aren't you even a bit curious?... b'sides, what can you lose? If you don't like them, you can pretend you never even met them and you'd be back at square one."

_**End of Flashback**_

"She went back to Sunnydale a couple of days after that, she checked on me every day to make sure I was staying away from alcohol, and everytime I felt I was gonna fall again she was always a call away," Paige told her sisters remembering gratefully, "a few months later I moved to San Francisco when I found the name of the church I was left and... well, you know the rest."  
"It was good Buffy suggested you to look for us," Phoebe said squeezing Paige's shoulders in affection.  
"Yeah, the Power of Three is up and running again," Paige said.  
"Not just that... you got this family up and running as well," Piper said sincerely.


	4. Chapter 4

_The story was supposed to happen in between seasons of charmed, but i didn't realize the times wouldn't fit until now._

_Anyway on with the story_.

-  
Days went by, they became months and the Sisters had dealth with many things in the meantime; Piper's pregnancy was going on well, her unborn baby made her invincible, Phoebe was growing tired of Cole, and Paige struggled to become a better witch and finally had the chance to met her real father

Wanting to give Phoebe some peace of mind, Paige came with a plan to vanquish Cole. She practiced her plan with Leo and he tried to talk her out of it but Paige, feeling the need to act independient from her sisters, went after Cole anyway, who was on the verge to became an Avatar.

The youngest sister, however, failed her attempt, Cole regenerated after what Paige thought was a succesful vanquish and knocked her out of the balcony, sending her to the river.

The next morning, while helping Piper with exercises for her pregnancy, the sisters saw how Paige orbed while sneezing and found out she went after Cole alone.

Cole on her hand, had become an Avatar, but before joining the collective, he asked one thing, he planned to change the past, make it as if the Charmed Ones were never rebuilt thinking that he and Pheobe would be as they were before.

Colle summoned Tempus, the change began. As the wave of change traveled through the city, the Halliwell sisters were at P3, Piper was ushering Paige to the office, there the youngest sneezed orbing out.

Paige orbed back to a destroyed P3. Looking for help she called Leo, but to her surprise he didn't know her.

"Look, I don't know who you are, lady, and I don't have time for games. All hell is breaking loose out there, so if you don't mind..." Leo said after she claimed to be his sister in law.  
"Have you lost your mind? Do you notice anything different?" she tried to knock sense on him.  
Leo looked around, "no, not really. So if you'll excuse me," he started to orb out but Paige stopped him.  
"Wait, I'm your charge too. How else could you have heard my call?"  
Leo realised she's right and decided to hear her. She convinced him to take her with Piper.

"What are we doing here?" Paige asked looking around at to where Leo orbed them to.  
"Shh, Piper's hunting," Leo whispered.

They watched how Piper tortured a Lazarus demon trying to find out Shax whereabouts. Getting no information she blew him up.

"Wait!" Paige called Piper who was about to leave.  
"Piper, don't!" Leo warned Piper who was ready to use her powers on Paige.  
"Oh my god, you're not pregnant anymore," Paige noticed.  
"Who are you? Leo, what are you doing here?" Said Piper with some impatience.  
"It's me, your sister, Paige."  
"Look, if this is some lame attempt from the Elders to try and lure me back, you can forget it. Tell them to shove it because I have no loyalties to them anymore, and I don't have any to you," Piper said looking angrily at Leo.  
"Hey! That's no way to speak to your husband," Paige exclamed.  
"We're divorced. Have been for a while," Leo said quietly to Paige.  
"Okay, what bizarre world have I sneezed my way into?" Paige tried to understand, "you two are married and you're expecting, a magical child no less. And you, you're not La Femme Nikita. You're a Charmed One. You don't mind kicking ass when you have to, but otherwise, you'd rather be hanging out with your sisters, baking cookies or knitting booties."  
"Knitting booties? Clearly you don't know me at all," Piper snorted.  
"Oh, yeah? Well, how come I know you didn't really vanquish the Lazarus demon?" Paige asked.  
"What are you talking about?"  
"As a breed, they resurrect. The only way to keep their remains down is to bury them in a cemetery," Paige said, and Piper turned to leave, "please, stay," Paige asked.

The pile of dust on the ground resurrected into the Lazarus Demon.  
"Piper!" Leo alerted her. She dusted the demon again.  
"How did you know that was gonna happen?" asked Leo.  
"Because we've fought him before in the real world!"  
"What do you mean we?" Piper wondered.  
"We. Me, you, Phoebe. Your sisters... Oh, god, this is getting me no where... Just orb me to Phoebe."  
"I can't go to the manor anymore, it's forbidden," Leo stated.  
"What? Fine, I'll do it myself. But when I fix this, you owe me," with that Paige stormed off.

Late at night, Paige made her way into the manor, it wasn't hard in spite of it being full with demons, none of them knew who she was. She saw Phoebe enter the kitchen and followed.

"Phoebe," Paige called, Phoebe placed her cigarette down and coughed, "you don't recognise me. That's okay, Piper didn't either," at the mention of her sister Phoebe's demeanor changed.  
"Piper? You know Piper? How is she?" she asked the stranger.  
"She's, uh, different. Look, I don't have a lot of time so I'm just gonna drop this on you. I am your long lost sister Paige. I know, it sounds crazy but it's true. We're all sisters in the real world."  
"Guards!" Phoebe yelled.  
"Look, I don't know how he did it, but Cole somehow switched realities in his twisted attempt to get you back. I somehow slipped through the cracks and landed here, I don't know how either. But I need your help in order to turn things back to the way they're supposed to be," Paige said as Darryl walks in.  
"You called?" he said with no expression in his fearures.  
"Darryl, hi," Paige said glad to see him.  
"Get rid of her," Phoebe ordered.

Darryl walked over to Paige and grabed her arm.

"No, what are you doing?" She resisted.  
"What bodyguards do," Phoebe said coldly.  
Paige hit Darryl with a frying pan, knocked him out, Phoebe pointed a knife at her.  
"Phoebe, I know you better than you know yourself right now, in your heart of hearts, you know you are not meant to be with Cole. In this other life you are free of him and you're happy," Paige tried to reason with her sister.

Daryl woke up and pointed his gun at Paige, she ran outside as Darryl fired. Outside of the manor, Paige called for Leo, Darryl followed close behind.  
Leo orbed them out just in time before Darryl fired.

"Thanks, that was cutting it a little close, don't you think?" Paige asked once they orbed to safety.  
"You're lucky I came at all."  
"I'm lucky? You're lucky. Without me, we're all screwed. I'm the only one who can fix this thing."  
"Oh, yeah?"  
"Oh, god, it's just so weird. Cole living at the manor, all those demons we vanquished wandering around alive. Wait a second, if the demons are alive then that means all the innocents we saved are... dead."  
"Not just the innocents, Paige."  
"What are you talking about? What are we doing here?" she asked looking around, they were in a cemetery which looked creepier at night.  
Leo pointed to a grave marker, Paige looked down, it was engraved - Paige Matthews - Born 1975 Died 2001.  
"After you left, I went and checked with the Elders. They confirmed your story that there was in fact another sister. Only they didn't know until it was too late, until after the Source had already had you killed," Leo said at the shocked charmed one, "it explains why none of us knew you. We never got a chance to meet you."  
"So, what, you believe me now?"  
"I'm not sure what I believe. The fact is you're here and you're not supposed to be."  
"Okay, so we've established the fact that I am here, how come I don't have my powers?"  
"Because you're not living your life anymore. You're living hers," he points at the grave, "you must have taken over our Paige's life in this reality, or at least, the life she would have lived had she not been killed. Since she never met her sisters... you end up here in Sunnydale... like this."  
"The Power of Three never got back together and I never got my powers. Lucky me."  
"Luckier than you think maybe. If you hadn't sneezed when you did and orbed into the neutral plane, nobody would've ever known."  
"Cole would've. He's the one behind this. He altered reality to eliminate me and get Phoebe back. But it's not working. She hates him as much in this reality as she does in ours. The problem is she's trapped here."  
"Your reality sounds a lot better than this one. Not just for Phoebe. So, uh, how can I help you get it back?"  
"I need..." Paige was cut by the sound of fighting, "what was that?" she asked as she walked to look behind some bushes, she saw a man and a woman fighting, she saw the man's demonic face and by instinct she rushed forward to help, but abruptly stopped as she got a better look at the woman, it was Buffy, and her shock grew as she watched Buffy taking out a stake and plung it in the demon's chest, turning it to dust.

Paige's mind was rushing, she tried to clear her thoughts, she wondered how herself being dead in this reality changed the fact that Buffy was alive, and the other way around back in her own reality. And above all, she was amazed as why was her friend killing demons.

She knew she had to fix whatever Cole did, but she wanted to see her best friend one last time, even if it was in a different reality.

"You said I ended up in Sunnydale?" she asked Leo, he nodded, "maybe I moved here instead of San Francisco," she said to herself.  
"Come on Paige, we have to reverse this," Leo rushed.  
"I know, but there's something I need to do here first, but please, get Piper, try to make her believe this is a twisted reality, I need my sisters... and ingredients for a potion."

Leo orbed Paige to where she asked, it was a neighborhood in Sunnydale, then he orbed out after Paige told him which items were needed for the vanquishing potion.

Paige walked to the familiar house in Revello street, she knocked and was relieved to see Dawn opening. However, Dawn seemed shocked.  
"Dawnie, I know this might sound crazy, but I'm me, the real me," she said knowing that if reality was going to change anyway it wouldn't matter expose magic with Dawn and Buffy.  
"But... I saw that demon kill you," Dawn said still unsure of who was standing there.  
"Demon?... you know what happened?" this time Paige was the surprised one, about Dawn knowing about demons.  
"Buffy tried to track it, she wanted to slay it in revenge, but we never found it," Dawn said still staring at Paige.  
"Slay? ... not that I don't appreciate it, but why would she risk herself going after a demon?"  
"Who are you?" Dawn asked suspecting the woman in front of her wasn't her friend.  
"It's really me, but from a different reality, you can trust me," Paige risked to reveal the whole truth in order to find out more and assure it was really her.  
Dawn looked carefully at her, she didn't feel bad vibes coming from her, and a look at Paige's eyes told her she was saying the truth. Without a word, the teen moved aside of the door to let her in.  
"I need to talk to Buffy, where is she?" Paige asked once she was in the living room.  
At this, Dawn's expression changed, "She died," she said sadly, "three months ago."  
"But... I just saw her, at the cemetery vanquishing a demon!"  
"Vanquishing?"  
"She staked a demon and it went poof."  
"Must had been a vampire."

Then the front door opened, Buffy walked in, Paige just stared in awe and then looked back at Dawn asking for an explanation.  
Dawn sighed, "that's the Buffybot." At Paige's blank expression she continued, "Spike... you know who Spike is?" she asked first.  
"Buffy told me he was a Billy Idol wanna be who arrased her."  
"Sums it up... Anyway, he made Warren, a geek guy, to built a Buffy robot for him to... have fun."  
The Buffybot walked to them and in a very cheery mood she greeted; Paige was lost, she didn't know what to think.  
"Did I know... about any of this?... This is so different than the reality I come from." Paige asked.  
Dawn nodded, "you became part of the Scooby gang no longer after you moved in here, you with Xander, Willow, Anya and Tara often used to go patrol with Buffy."  
"Patrol for what, and what gang?"  
"Demons, vampires, the usual..."

Paige wanted to stay there longer and find out more but she knew she had to help her sisters, Phoebe was in danger being with Cole, she had to go back to her own reality and made things right.

She said goodbye to Dawn and when she was out the house she called for Leo, both orbed back to San Francisco, to the destroyed P3.

There, Piper was waiting, and assured Paige that she believed her, figuring that if she was right about the Lazarus Demon, she might had been right about everything else.  
Paige mixed the ingredients together to make the potion, Leo and Piper had orbed before to the manor to get some of Cole's flesh.  
"I'm impressed, you really know this stuff," Piper said as she watched Paige.  
"Of course I do, I learn from the best. I learn from you."

At the manor, the three got in, they didn't see anybody. Suddenly Phoebe rushed down the stairs.  
"What are you guys doing here? You have to leave now." She warned.  
"Where's Cole?" Piper asked.  
Cole walked in, "right here," he threw an energy ball across the room, hitting Piper, Paige and Leo, they fell to the floor  
"No!" Phoebe ran to their side. Cole flicked his fingers and the potion flied across the room and into his hand. "What did you do to them?" Phoebe asked.  
"Exactly what they were gonna do to me," Cole replied.

Paige reached to hold Piper's hand.  
"She's still alive, grab her hand," she said to Phoebe.  
"I don't know how you got here, Paige. But if it's any consolation, I know exactly where I'm gonna bury you. Right next to yourself," Cole threatened.  
"Grab her hand," Paige repeated.

Phoebe touched Piper's hand and a light shined down on them, Cole threw an energy ball at them but it bounced off the light, the light vanished and Phoebe and Paige stood up.  
"The Power of Three," Phoebe says.  
"That's us. Potion!" Paige said as she felt her powers came back, "I do hate long goodbyes," she was about to throw the potion but Phoebe stopped her.  
"She's not gonna throw it. Are you?" Cole said looking at Phoebe, "we've been through so much together, haven't we? Our love's so strong, nothing can destroy it, not even this. We're meant to be together."  
"I don't think so," Phoebe threw the potion, the room started spining as Cole exploded.

"Oh, please, god, tell me I'm back," Paige talked to herself looking at the empty manor.  
"Oh, there you are. Where'd you orb to?" Piper asked as she walked in holding a tub of ice cream.  
"Piper. Are you pregnant?"  
"Yeah. Where you been? What happened to your clothes?"

Paige hugged Piper, "time must have continued moving on in this reality too. I'm back!"  
"I beg your pardon?"  
Phoebe walked in through the front door.  
"Hey, what's going on?" Phoebe asked, happy to see Paige was back.  
"Phoebe!" Paige greeted her hugging her as well.  
"Hi. Oh, oh, okay. What's the celebration?" Phoebe asked.  
"I'm just so happy to be home, that's all."

Paige told them what happened, how Cole altered reality and how Phoebe vanquished him, and about Buffy killing demons and the robot replacing her.  
The three of them went to Cole's appartment, it was empty, no sign of him. Seeing he was gone for real, they headed to the elevator, leaving that place to never go back again.

Once Paige was in her bed later, only one thought was in her mind, she would go to Sunnydale and find out the truth.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, wasting no time, Paige got dressed and orbed straight to Sunnydale, it was early but she wanted answers. She knocked several times on the Summers' residence until finally a sleepy looking Willow opened.

"Paige, hi, not that I'm not glad but what are you doing here?" Asked the readhead as she let Paige in.  
"Sorry to come in this early but..." Paige started as she walked thowards the living room and stood there, "I... there's something I need to know about Buffy, and all of you... and it's ok if you think I'm crazy because it's weird and..."  
"Paige," Willow cut in, smiling little at Paige's babbling, wondering how it would be if she herself started her usual babbling as well, "no one's gonna think you're crazy, trust me."  
Paige sighed, "ok... Uhm... Do you fight demons?" she blurted.  
"Demons?" Willow tried to fool around but then thought that maybe Paige saw something in good old Sunnydale and wanted help, "well, strange things happen in this city and we... We deal it those things."  
"And those things are demons," Paige said in a way of confirmation, not a question.  
Willow at first didn't know what to say, but seeing that Paige was more surprised than scared decided to let the youngest Halliwell tell what she knew.  
"How can you be so sure?" asked Willow.  
"Well... I've had my share of strange things and, during one of those strange things I saw Buffy dealing with them... with..."  
"Strange things," Willow finished for her.  
"Exactly, and..." Before Paige could finish speaking, Tara, Dawn and the BuffyBot came down the stairs.  
"Who was at the door sweetie?" Asked Tara and then she saw Paige, "oh hi Paige..." She and Dawn shared a worried expression because they didn't know how to explain about the BuffyBot, after all, last time Paige was there, was to mourn their lost friend.

At seeing Buffy walking down the stairs Paige doubts were cleared.  
"That's the robot... Right?" She asked and received glances from everyone.  
"How did you know?" Asked Dawn wide eyed.  
"I saw it before, and you explained it to me," Paige told Dawn, and she just frowned.  
"Truth be told... I'm a witch and... Yesterday I ended up in an altern reality and apparently in that reality I knew all about your demons and helped you patrol and stuff," Paige said fast.

They remained silent, until the Buffybot spoke "you're Paige!" it said with a grin, reading from its files the information about her, "you're one of my best friends!... and live in San Francisco."  
Willow, Dawn and Tara just stared between Paige and the Bot. After a beat Paige laughed, "whoa, if she knows about me I'd say it's fair that I know about her, don't you think?" she said refering to the robot.

"So I guess you know about vampires, demons and evil nasties lurking around?" asked Dawn, "you being a witch and all?"  
"Yeah," Paige sighed, "vampires not so much... I was a vampire once, but the queen was killed before I fully turned."  
"Wait... you became human again?" asked Tara, "is that possible?" she turned to Willow.  
"I've never heard of that happening before," Willow shrugged, "the vampires we deal with are different, they don't turn back to human if you kill their sire or masters," she explained to Paige.  
"Why do you fight demons?" Paige asked, "are you all witches too?"  
"Tara and I are," Willow said.  
"Was Buffy?" Paige pushed.  
"No, she was a Slayer, we helped her... and we feel it's our duty to keep fighting the demons," Willow said.  
"A demon got her?" Paige asked sorrowful.  
"A portal to a hell dimension was above the city... blood opened it... blood had to close it, she jumped to save me," Dawn said somberly.

Paige sat there just thinking, about what a Slayer was and if she should tell them about the Charmed ones or not, it was not only her secret, she didn't know how would Piper and Phoebe would feel if she shared their family secret. But for now she decided not to mention being part of the Charmed ones.

"Well, I came for answers and I got them, I just want it all to sink in," Paige said as she stood up, "it's nice... Talking about this things to someone else who understands, we have to do this more often."  
"Sure! Feel free to come over, or call as often as you used to," Dawn said, "I kinda miss you... and I know Buffy did too," she added in a sad tone.  
Paige hugged her, "I will... I missed you too... and I miss her."

They broke the embrace and Paige said her goodbyes to Willow and Tara, telling them she would stay in touch. Once outside of the house, Paige orbed away, to Buffy's grave.  
"If we'd had known we had the same kind of secret we would had helped each other with those creepy things too... and probably my sisters and I would had been able to do something to prevent your death," she spoke barely above a whisper, and she stood there for a while.

Later she orbed back to San Francisco to the manor.

"Hey, where have you been?" Piper asked her when she saw her sister orb in the kitchen where she and Phoebe were.  
"I was in Sunnydale."  
"Did you find out anything?" Phoebe asked.  
"Willow and Tara are witches," Paige answered, "and Buffy was a Slayer."  
"A Slayer? what's a Slayer?" Piper asked.  
"I don't know exactly, I'm gonna check on the Book of Shadows."  
"Ok," Piper said.

Paige had been flipping the pages of the book of shadows for a couple of minutes, shortly Piper and Phoebe entered the attic.  
"Anything?" Phoebe asked.  
"Not yet," Paige answered not taking her eyes off of the book.  
"Leo!" Piper called him, soon he orbed in, "Do you know anything about Slayers?" She asked her husband.  
"Not much, just that their calling is to fight forces of darkness, but I've never met one... Why" Leo said.  
"Because Buffy was one, her friends are witches," Piper explained.  
"I was wondering," Paige said, "can we summon her?"  
"Do you think it's necessary? We could find out about Slayers some other way," Phoebe asked her.  
Paige nodded, "it's not only because of that, Dawn said she jumped to close a portal to a Hell dimension, I need to know if she didn't end up in that hell... she doesn't deserve that."

Phoebe and Piper understood their sister's reason, if it were Prue's case they would be doing the same, they arranged candles on the floor.

"Hear these words, hear my cry. Spirit from the other side, come to me I summon thee, cross now the Great Divide," the Halliwell sisters chanted.

Buffy appeared in a swirl of white lights, she looked down at herself confused, "what the..." she said as she looked around, "Paige?" the Slayer said, eyes wide open in surprise, "what's going on?"  
"Hi Buffy," Paige said with a smile, happy to see her, "just calm down, I'll explain."  
"Calm down? I'm a freaking ghost!... why am I a..." she was complaining and then all the memories of Glory, Dawn and the portal rushed in, "oh..." she said with a frown.  
"Are you ok?" Paige asked.  
Buffy thought for a minute and then answered with a slight smile, "actually I am, I feel... free," she looked at the others in the room, "hi! You must be Piper and Phoebe right?" the sisters nodded, "and you," the blonde said looking at Leo, "Cole or Leo?"  
"Leo" he cleared.  
"Leo," she repeated, "sorry, Paige told me about you all but I didn't have faces to go with the names."  
"It's nice to meet you Buffy," Phoebe said, "even like this."  
"Why am I here?" Buffy asked.  
"We summoned you," Paige answered.  
"You did? ... are you witches?"  
"Surprise," Paige said with a chuckle.  
"You'll get along with Willow and Tara then, they're witches too," Buffy said.  
"I know, and I know you are a Slayer... were."

Buffy let out a sigh, "I wanted to tell you, but I didn't want to put you in unnecessary danger, but here you are... all witchy and talking to dead people," unconsciously she walked out of the circle and became corporeal, "whoa... " she put her arm inside the circle area and watched it turn transparent, "neat."  
Phoebe and Piper smiled, they were starting to like her, too bad they met her late.  
"We're to blame," Piper said still smiling at her, "the witchy part runs in the family."  
"I found out I was a witch the day I met them." Paige cleared.  
"So, good witches? Or bad ones?" she walked towards Paige, "I know you are a wicked one," she joked before hug her.  
"We fight demons, just like you," Piper said.  
"How long have you been a Slayer?" Paige asked.  
"Since I was fifteen... hence all the fighting and being expelled." Buffy said.  
"You were just a kid," Phoebe said feeling a little sorry about Buffy dealing with demons since a young age.  
"Yeah, it sucked, at first I didn't accept my call, but then I got used to it and eventually accepted it... and now I got my gift."  
"Gift?" Piper asked her.  
"During a vision quest, the first Slayer told me Death was my gift, at first I thought it meant that a Slayer was only a killer, but now I understand that my gift is the peace that came with my death," Buffy said.

Those words brought peace to Piper and Phoebe too, now considering Prue's death as a gift for her as well, both Prue and Buffy were now free from all the fighting and the demons, they were awarded somehow.

"Are you happy were you are?" Paige asked her friend.  
Buffy smiled, "I am... wherever I am, I feel safe, warm, complete... loved."  
"I'm glad," Paige said.

For the next couple of hours, the three sisters and Buffy talked about their callings.  
They talked about the ups and downs, about Prue, the Source, the Master, Cole, Angel and Glory, both sides amazed by each other's stories.

"Please promise me you'll look after Dawn every once in a while, and the rest of the gang," Buffy asked the sisters.  
"We will," Paige assured, "and thank you Buffy, for all the things you did for me, you helped me through a lot, and I'll always be grateful for that," she said knowing that this was goodbye, "I'll miss you, but it makes me feel good that you're ok up there."  
"It's weird hearing you express your feelings without your sarcasm," Buffy said playful, before becoming serious, "and there's nothing to thank, you did the same and more for me, I always knew I could count on you no matter what... I'm so proud of you."  
Buffy hugged Paige one last time and waved Piper and Phoebe before walking back in the circle.

"Take care, and be careful, all of you, Prue and I will keep an eye on you," Buffy said and then disappeared.

"Goodbye," Paige whispered.

Piper and Phoebe walked close to Paige and enveloped her in an embrace.  
"You ok Missy Paige?" Piper asked.  
"I am," Paige said with a smile.

After that day, the Halliwells kept in touch with the scoobies, and even sometimes orbed Dawn to San Francisco to take care of her when the gang were out patrolling, Dawn became like a surrogate little sister to the Halliwells.  
Things were going relatively normal, or as normal as it would for them, but one night things changed.  
Paige's cell rang waking her up, "hey Dawnie" she answered, and looked at her watch that was on the night stand table, "are you okay?" she asked with some worry because it was late.  
"Paige... Buffy is alive," Dawn said with shock.  
Paige's eyes opened wide, "I'm on my way," she managed to say.  
She quickly got dressed and orbed to Sunnydale.


	6. Chapter 6

_I changed a few things in the past chapters... i didn't notice i mentioned Wyatt and he's not supposed to be born yet :P _

* * *

Paige orbed in the Summers' living room, it was almost 3 am, but the lights where on.

"Dawn?" she called.

"Up here," Dawn answered coming down the stairs.

"What happened… where's Buffy?" Paige asked.

"I just checked on her, she's sleeping," the teen answered and motion Paige to sit down, "I'm not sure what happened, all I know is that Willow, Tara, Anya and Xander did a spell."

"What kind of spell?" Paige asked already thinking on the consequences.

"They didn't say anything else, they just came here looking for Buffy, bombed her with questions and they left after Buffy went upstairs," Dawn said not quite understanding everything either.

Paige sighed and stood up, "I want to see her."

They headed upstairs to Buffy's room, she wasn't sleeping anymore, she was just staring at the pictures in her room.

"Buffy?" Dawn called softly getting no response, "hey, look who's here," she said hoping to get any reaction.

Paige slowly approached her, and gently placed her hand over Buffy's shoulder, "Buff, how are you feeling?" she asked in a soft tone.

"The pictures…" Buffy said not looking away from said pictures.

"What about them?" Paige asked smiling lightly seeing that amongst all the pictures of the Scoobies there were a couple of herself with Buffy too.

"They're dead… we're all dead," Buffy said with confusion in her voice.

Paige gently pulled her back to the bed, "Dawn. Help with the covers please."

Dawn rearranged the bed sheets for her sister.

"You comfy?" Paige asked as she tucked her friend in the bed but got no response.

"She's been like that since I found her," Dawn said, "she barely speaks, is like she's not present, her mind is somewhere else."

"Tell me everything," Paige said.

They went to Dawn's room.

"Spike came over to baby sit me," Dawn said as if ashamed of still being watched over, "then this demon gang came and started to trash the city, we fled, and found the BuffyBot destroyed… it mentioned something about the other Buffy being there, and I ran, hoping to find her, and she was up in Glory's tower… I think she wanted to jump," she said sadly and Paige listened carefully, "she asked me if this was hell… I tried to reassure her that she was home now… are you sure she wasn't in hell?" some tears started to form in Dawn's eyes.

Paige talked to Dawn right after the Halliwells summoned Buffy, and she told everything Buffy said, Dawn at first got mad for not being able to see her sister, but then she was happy that Buffy was ok wherever she was.

"I'm sure, you know she told me so herself," Paige said, she knew Buffy was in some kind of Heaven.

"I brought her home," Dawn continued, "Spike knew she dug up from her grave… because her hands were hurt, then the others arrived and I called you when they left."

Suddenly they heard glass breaking, they looked at each other and walked out the room, they heard Buffy talking in Willow and Tara's room.

"What did you do? Do you know what you did?" Buffy was saying as Paige and Dawn entered the room, the witches where on the bed staring at Buffy, "You're like children! Your hands smell of death! Bitches!, filthy little bitches rattling the bones, did you cut a throat? Did you pat its head?" by this Buffy was almost yelling, she grabbed a crystal ball off the dresser and threw it at Willow and Tara who managed to duck, it smashed against the wall.

Buffy continued yelling, "The blood dried on your hands, didn't it? You were stained, you still are… I know what you did!"

"Oh God…" Tara said scared.

Paige turned on the lights, as soon as the room was lit, Buffy was gone, the crystal ball was complete in its original place.

"The glass, there's no glass," Tara stated looking for glass over the bed.

The four headed to Buffy's room, she was there sleeping, "Ok, what in the frilly heck is going on?" Willow asked confused and frightened.

"Maybe we dreamed it," Tara thought out loud.

"Right, right… wrong! Different brains," Willow reasoned.

"And we were wide awake," Dawn said.

"Yeah right, you were, we all saw it," Willow was trying to find a reason and then for the first time noticed Paige was there, "Paige! Hi, what are you doing here?"

"I asked her to come," Dawn said.

They noticed a shadowy distortion rippling across the wall and then disappear.

"What was that?" Willow asked.

"There's, there's something in the house," Tara answered.

"What is it? Could it hurt Buffy?" Willow wondered.

"I don't know." Tara said.

"I'm gonna call," Willow grabed the phone and dialed, "I hope Xander's up."

The next morning, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Paige were at the backyard. Xander just told them how last night Anya was possessed by something.

"I bet it's a hitchhiker," Anya said after hearing what happened, "standard way to travel between alternate dimensions. Some thing-ama-demon sees someone moving between worlds, and grabs on for the ride."

"You mean some Hell beastie rode back with Buffy. Like ... we're responsible for this," Willow said a little regretful.

"What makes you think it's a Hell thing?" Paige asked, she had doubts on the hitchhiker theory knowing that Buffy wasn't in hell.

"What else could it be?, Buffy jumped to a portal to some Hell, we pulled her out," Willow answered.

"I think we shouldn't have brought Buffy back, I knew it was going to go badly, I should've said something." Anya said.

"Hey, you know what, yeah! You should've! At least you could've mentioned the highjackers so we could stop 'em!" Willow ranted.

"They're hitchhikers, not highjackers, and I thought you knew! It's basic stuff! You're supposed to be the all-powerful witch," Anya defended herself.

"She's got a point," Paige whispered receiving a glance from Willow.

"Which raises the question," Anya continued not having heard Paige, "why are you having us skulk around and meet in the backyard like like conspiracy squirrels? Sitting on this arm is making my buttocks hurt."

"Buffy's still asleep," Willow said

"We want her to get all the rest she can," Tara explained.

"Okay, fine. But what are we going to do? I mean, I'm feeling the need for some vigorous doing, you know?" Xander said still shaken.

"It's okay. We kill the beastie and all is good, we're rolling in puppies!" Willow said cheerful, "Right?"

"Can we do that? Kill it?" Xander asked.

No one noticed Buffy coming out from the kitchen,

"We killing something?" Buffy asked them.

"How are you feeling? Are you okay?" Tara asked her.

"It's all right if you're still plagued with nightmarish visions of Hell," Anya said trying to be sympathetic but with the wrong words as usual.

Buffy smiled lightly, but Paige notices her smile is fake.

"Uh-huh. So what are we killing?" Buffy asked.

They briefly explained the situation, and Buffy was all business, the others thought it was a good sign, they still though she had been in a Hell dimension.

They decided to go to the Magic Box to do some research. Paige said she was going to look in the book of shadows.

"Buffy, can we talk?" Paige asked her quietly when they entered the house.

Buffy didn't reply, her glance was empty, she showed no emotions at all. Paige sighed and took Buffy's hand and orbed away.

They appeared in a green area in Los Angeles, "remember this place?" Paige asked Buffy, who just looked around not realizing what just happened, "remember when we used to come here after classes?... or during classes?" Paige let out a small chuckle, but still didn't get a response from her friend.

Paige guided Buffy to sit under a tree.

"Buffy," Paige said in a more serious tone, "do you remember where you were?"

The blonde stared down at her bandaged hands, her eyes started to fill with tears but refused to let them free. Buffy knew she didn't have to pretend around Paige, she could just be herself around her. She lightly nodded, "I… I remember you bringing me back… but felt nothing like… like this," She said trying to find the words.

"We summoned your spirit," Paige explained, "but never pulled you out of there."

"Can you… take me back there?" Buffy asked softly.

Paige understood what Buffy was asking, but knew she couldn't do it, "it's a lot to ask… you could end in Limbo, or some place different from where you were, I'm not so sure how afterlife dimensions work," she said reassuringly.

"I want to go back," Buffy said staring blankly at the sky.

Paige feared that she might try to hurt herself to go back to heaven, she wasn't sure of what to say.

"Don't worry… I won't kill myself," Buffy said as if reading her friend's mind, "everything is so… mixed up," she continued as she rubbed her temples, "I've got memories of things that weren't supposed to happen… but yet they happened."

"What do you mean?... memories from up there?" Paige asked

Buffy shook her head, "I remember… Living without Dawn most of my life… the Master free, in a factory… Angel being human… I, I don't know what's real and what's not," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Alter realities," Paige said after a beat, "it could be possible you somehow moved… or were moved through realities, but Buffy I think there's a reason for you to be here… I know your friends' intentions were genuinely good…"

Buffy didn't say anything, she just lean on Paige's shoulder and cried softly. "I'll always be here for you when you need," the charmed one said as she held Buffy.

"Don't tell them… where I was," Buffy said, "things would get… uncomfortable."

"You still hate to be patronized," Paige said with a small smile, "see? You are still the same deep down, you just need time to readjust, take all you need, you don't have to rush into things."

"Thank you," Buffy said softly, her tears drying.

Later when the sun was setting, Paige orbed Buffy back to Sunnydale, to the Magic Box where the gang were researching the threat. Paige joined the research.

After a while Buffy left, saying she had to patrol, Dawn wanted to go with her but she refused.

"Thaumogenesis!" Willow said after more time of research. Startled the others looked at her.

"She's possessed!" said Anya, who was woken up by Willow's voice.

"Thaumogenesis," Willow repeated.

"You're right," said Dawn to Anya.

"I'm not possessed. It's just, I think I figured it out. This isn't a demon we let out. This is a demon we made," she explained holding the book she was reading.

"We made a demon? Bad us," Xander said.

"Thaumogenesis is when doing a spell actually creates a being. In this case it was, like, a side-effect," Willow explained to them, "think of it like, the world doesn't  
like you getting something for free, we asked for this huge gift, Buffy, and the world said, fine, if you get that, you have to take this too ... and it made the demon."

"Sounds like a personal gain side effect," Paige said.

"If you made a demon how come we don't see it? I mean, we just see us, doing stuff." Dawn wondered.

"I think it's out of phase with this dimension. Its consciousness is here, but its body is caught in the ether between existing and not existing," Willow kept on reading from her book, "the demon it's going to dissipate, the only way it can survive on our plane is if it was to kill the subject of the original spell."

"It would live if it kills Buffy?" asked Paige fearfully.

"Thanks for the tip!" said the demon in a possessed Xander who collapsed on the floor and the demon fled.

Xander, Anya and Dawn were soon on Xander's car on their way to the Summers' house.

Willow, Tara and Paige stood behind to perform a spell to make the demon solid so Buffy could slay it.

Tara and Paige looked in awe as Willow's power grew, the redhead wasn't chanting along them anymore, her eyes turned black and a light surrounded her.

"Solid," Willow said with a deep voice.

No longer after that, Xander called to the magic box, to let the witches know that the spell worked and the demon was dead.

Paige said her goodbyes to the gang and orbed back to San Francisco.

"Paige! We were starting to worry," said Piper as she saw her orb in.

"Sorry, I left in a hurry this morning," Paige said.

"I asked Leo to keep an eye on you… in case he sensed you were in any danger," Piper said.

"Everything ok?" asked Phoebe

Paige poured herself some coffee and sat on a chair in the kitchen, "I went to Sunnydale… Buffy was brought back to life," she said with a sigh.

"What?!" Piper asked shocked, "how? Why?"

"I'm not sure how, all I know is that Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya did a spell to bring her back," Paige told them.

"How's Buffy taking it?" Piper asked, the memories of when she tried to bring Prue back rushing to her head.

"She seems so lost, she's not happy to be here… and the spell backfired."

Paige told them everything that happened during the day, and how Willow finished the spell.

"We have to talk to Willow," Piper said, "it takes a really powerful witch to bring someone back to life."

"And only black magic can make that possible," Phoebe added.

"We should keep an eye on her," Paige said, the memory of how overwhelming was being close to Willow's power made her fear the wiccan witch.


	7. Chapter 7

No longer after Paige orbed back to San Francisco, Willow and Tara went back to the house, once there, Willow called Giles and told him that they brought Buffy back.

Giles was speechless, he only said he would be there as soon as he could, he had mixed emotions, on one side he was happy that Buffy was alive, but on the other hand he was worried about the consequences of her return, about what she must be going through.

When he finally arrived a few days later, he went straight to the Magic Box hoping to find everybody there, and he was right. He stood by the door not moving, on the table the scoobies were researching something, books were all over the table, and Buffy was standing there, apparently looking normal as usual, researching about a new demon she faced. As they looked at each other, Buffy went straight to hug him, he immediately returned the embrace.

"My God, Buffy. You're alive. You're here. And you're still... Remarkably strong," Giles said feeling the strength behind the embrace.

"Huh? Oh. Sorry," Buffy breaks the hug.

"Willow told me, but I didn't really let myself believe," the british man looked at her in awe.

"I take some getting used to… I'm still getting used to me," she joked lightly.

"It's ... you're a ..."

"A miracle?" Buffy finished for him.

"Yes. But then, I've always thought so."

Both headed to the back, to the training room to talk more privately.

Giles fooled around the punching bag unsure of what to say, "so…" he started but said nothing more, they just looked at each other and smile.

"I can start. How was England?... How was life?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not sure how to answer that. I arrived home, met with the council… Other than that, there wasn't much to report. I saw a few old friends and almost made a new one, which I believe is statistically impossible for a man my age," he summarized his past few months.

"And now you're back."

"Yes."

"Wow. Giles, are you miserable about it, or just really British?"

"I can't lie to you, Buffy. It was difficult leaving Sunnydale. And coming back was..."

"I'm guessing the word is "inconvenient."

"You know that doesn't matter," that got through to Buffy, they held their gaze, then Giles spoke again, "and how are you? Really, you look tired."

"Me? Nah, fine," she said playfully, then became serious, "I mean, yeah, sleeping's hard, but just because of that whole waking up in a box thing. So maybe it's waking up that's the problem, but only for a second, I sleep okay… great even, except… you know ... for the dreams..." she trailed off, looked away haunted, "but thanks to Paige I've started to accept… this, you know, being here after… not being."

"Paige?" Giles asked, never heard of her before.

"One of my best friends who's been there for me even without knowing I was the Slayer… and turned out she was a Charmed one so, she understand me also in the being chosen part."

Giles gently reached out to put his hands on her shoulders.

"You seem to be doing remarkably well under extreme circumstances… I'm proud of you," he said staring at her right into her eyes, and also surprised to hear about a Charmed one.

"Well, actually, it wasn't me. Willow brought me back... I just lay there."

"Yes. I only meant…"

"I know what you meant. Just a little post post-mortem comedy..." she said and then broke eye contact, "better start prepping, the slayage," she turned away to resume her workout on the punching bag.

"There is always that, isn't there?" Giles said looking at her, he knew she tried to light the mood and not worry him, but he knew her better than that.

"Seems that way," she answered as she punched the bag.

Giles exited the training room and joined the others in the research, they already found what they needed, a M'Fashnik demon was the baddie they were going against.

The watcher approached Dawn and she hugged him too, not as strong as her sister, but still with feelings behind it.

"I kinda miss you," the teen said.

"That's kind of you… I believe," he replied with a smile, "Dawn," he said serious, "how is she?... really?" he asked looking at the training room.

Dawn's face saddened a little, and she was deep in thought.

"Dawn?" Giles asked, bringing the teen out of her thoughts.

"I have to tell you something, but…" she look at the rest of the scoobies in their own business, "later?"

Giles caught that and he nodded.

Later in the Summers' house, Giles and Dawn were in the kitchen, while Buffy was looking for some blankets and pillows for him.

"Is everything ok Dawn?," Giles asked as he cleaned his glasses.

"Buffy wasn't in hell as she says," she said softly.

"Did she tell you?" Giles asked concerned.

Dawn denied with her head, "a friend of us... told us," she said unsure of how much to reveal about the Halliwell sisters.

"A friend... would that be a charming friend?" Giles asked with a hint.

"You know about them?" Dawn asked with relief.

"Buffy did mention her friend earlier... uhm, Paige, and apparently a Charmed one, which is quite fascinating actually," he said amazed, "I've read of them, but never been close to the Warren line before," he looked at Dawn and saw she was just staring, "... so, how did they know she wasn't in heaven?"

"Paige told me, they summoned Buffy and said she was happy, the same old Buffy, nothing like... how she's now."

"Is it possible that during this... summoning, Buffy wasn't aware of her condition?"

"No, Paige said she remembered everything."

"Dawn, is there a way for you to contact them?" Giles asked, hoping to talk to them about Willow's spell, he was concerned about the young witch.

"Sure, I'll call."

"Thank you... as for Buffy, I think is best to make her feel as comfortable as we can, we have to be there for her but without crowding her, she might see us as some sort of menace to her peace... or she'll find harder to find her inner peace... I can't imagine what she must be going through."

Dawn went upstairs to call Paige, Giles joined Buffy in the living room, she was placing the blankets on the couch.

"Pff. I blame the sofa," complained Buffy trying to arrange the blankets, "we need a real pull-out bed… The kind with no payments 'til two-thousand-and-infinity"

"What?" asked Giles.

"Just, money stuff. Turns out Mom left me some, and while I was dead… Got squandered on luxuries like food and clothing."

"How bad is it?"

"Anya says bad. I'm kinda taking her word for it. Actually, I'm kinda trying to not think about it, I'll just put it out of my mind for awhile, take a break, get some  
perspective ... then wake up at four a.m. terrified."

Giles finished tugging at the sheets, the improvised bed seemed better, smooth and even.

Buffy plumped down on the freshly made sofa, grabbing a cushion to hold. She looked straight ahead, lost in thought.

"Buffy, you may be putting too much pressure on yourself. To return from … where you were ... it's only natural coming back would be a process," Giles tried to make her talk about where she was.

"In the meantime, I'm scaring people," Buffy said still looking ahead.

"That may take some time, too, if it's any consolation, life can get overwhelming even for people who haven't been ... where you have…" Giles said.

"I guess, but I don't know, Giles, I mean ... stuff like spoons are still weird to me. Then you add complex financial issues on top of that, and… Buffy go bye-bye," she said now looking at him.

She shook her head, overwhelmed; Giles looked for a way to comfort her.

"Tomorrow, you and I can sit down together and go over everything. Every bill, one by one. We'll work it out together," Giles said hoping that at least that would offer her some peace. They shared a look.

"I'm glad you're back," Buffy said softly.

"Well. I'm glad you are too," Giles moved to put a hand on Buffy's shoulder but she got up the couch before he made contact, she walked away leaving Giles watching her, concerned.

Giles was about to go to the kitchen when Dawn came down the stairs.

"Giles, I'm on the phone with Paige, she asks if you want her to come right over or maybe tomorrow," Dawn asked.

"It's late for her to drive here, so I guess we'll wait until tomorrow," Giles said with a frown.

"She won't be driving… she…" Dawn was saying but got interrupted by blue and white orbs, "oh… hi Paige, Phoebe," the teen greeted ending the call on the phone she held in her hand.

Giles stared in awe, "that… that's an incredible teleporting spell you got there."

"It's called orbing," Paige said, "you must be mr. Giles," she reached her hand to greet him, "Buffy told us about you, this is Phoebe my sister."

"Hi Mr. Giles," Phoebe shook his hand as well.

"Please, just Giles," he cleared.

"How's Piper?" Dawn asked the sisters.

"Oh she's fine, as pregnant as she could be, soon we'll meet our baby niece," Phoebe said excited.

They walked to the dining room and sat there.

"Dawn told me you already know about where Buffy was," Paige said.

"Yes, and I can say it doesn't surprise me, after all, she's a fighter of good, it's obvious she would end up in heaven," Giles said.

"Also is understandable to think that she might had been in Hell, considering where the portal lead to," Phoebe said.

"Just don't tell the others about her being in heaven, Buffy doesn't want them to know, and I don't want to betray her trust," Paige said, Giles nodded inunderstanding.

"However, any spell used to bring someone back is extremely dangerous," Giles said, "I didn't know Willow had such power."

"I felt her power, it felt… evil," Paige said still remembering the sensation of being close to Willow's power.

"Are you saying… Willow is evil?" Dawn asked.

"Not at all, but her power is, I know she used dark magic, I felt it," Paige explained.

"And that power could control her, if she isn't careful," Phoebe added.

"We have to talk to her," Paige said.

"And we will, and also I would like Buffy to talk to us, or at least someone about her experience... when the Master killed years ago, she had so many emotions she denied to let go, she was... Self destructive at some point," Giles said.

"And you're worried how affected she's now," Phoebe said understanding.

"I remember," Paige said, "back then I didn't know she died for some minutes, but I knew she was going through a hard time, she and Dawn went to L.A to spend summer with their dad, and Buffy was... she was rude, and it was as if she wasn't there at all," Paige trailed off.

Giles and Dawn nodded in agreement remembering Buffy's behavior back then.

They heard noise coming from the kitchen. It was Willow, she was looking through the cupboards. She turned around and sees Phoebe, Paige Dawn and Giles there.

"Hey!" Willow greeted all, and looked at the Halliwells, "I didn't know you were in Sunnydale."

"Hi Will, we just arrived," Phoebe told her.

Giles softly asked Dawn to go to her room, a bit relucantly she left.

"You have a good talk with Buffy?" Willow asked Giles.

"Yes, now that she's back," Giles answered, his look grim.

"Isn't it awesome?" Willow didn't hide her pride.

"Mmm. Tell us about this spell you performed," he said, his voice not showing any emotion.

"Okay," Willow said excited, "first of all, so scary, like, the Blair Witch would have had to watch like this," she covers her eyes, "and this giant snake came out my mouth and then there was all this energy crackling and then this pack of demons interrupted but I totally kept it together and the next thing you know ... Buffy," she finishes proudly, expecting someone to congratulate her.

"You're a very stupid girl," Giles said quietly, his tone sad,"

She proudly awaits his kudos.

"What? Giles ..." Willow was completely taken aback

"Do you have any idea what you've done? The forces you've harnessed? The lines you've crossed?" Giles said talking harsh.

"I thought you'd be ... impressed, or something," Willow said still surprised by his reaction.

"Oh, don't worry, you've made a deep impression... of everyone here you were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature," Giles said louder.

"Are you saying you don't trust me?" Willow asked him looking straight into his eyes.

"Willow we're worried about the consequences," Phoebe said softly.

"I can deal with the consequences," Willow said confident.

"Think what you've done to Buffy," Giles told her.

"I brought her back!"

"At incredible risk," Giles said now angry.

"Risk? Of what? Making her deader?" Willow asked still unsure why wouldn't they just be happy of what she achieved.

"Killing us all. Unleashing a hell on Earth. Shall I go on?"

"No! Giles, I did what I had to do. I did what nobody else could do," Willow looked at the Halliwells, "well maybe you could, but ..."

"We may have enough power to bring someone back," Phoebe interrupted her, "but we don't mess with that kind of magic."

"There's always consequences in magic, more if it's for personal gain," Paige said.

"But there's no personal gain in this, bringing Buffy back wasn't only for me, it was for everyone, she included!... I pulled out of Hell, that was a good thing, I did what was necessary." Willow defended herself, "I'm not a bad guy, I brought Buffy back to the world and maybe the word you should be looking for is "congratulations."

"Having Buffy back in the world makes me feel indescribably wonderful, but I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and happened to survive."

"That's not what I did, Giles!"

"You were lucky."

"I wasn't lucky, I was amazing... How would you know anyway? You weren't even there."

"If I had been I'd have bloody well stopped you! The Magicks you channeled are more primal and ferocious than you can hope to understand, and you're lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur," Giles was almost screaming.

"Why don't we all calm down," Phoebe said but wasn't listened.

"You're right. The Magicks I used are incredibly powerful... I'm incredibly powerful, and maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off," Willow said in a flat menacing tone.

They all stared at each other until Wllow spoke again, "c'mon, I don't want to fight. Let's not, okay? I'll think about what you said, and you ... try to be happy Buffy's back."

"Of course we're happy she's back, but don't tell us what we want to hear, for real think of this, be careful with magic, it works in mysterious ways and not always has the result you were hoping for," Paige said, concern evident in her.

Willow softened and nodded, "I'll be careful... but whatever happens, I can't reverse it... I won't reverse the spell, no matter the consequences... I won't kill Buffy."

"We understand... And we'll be here for you when you need any magic related help, or any help at all, you can trust us," Phoebe said.

"Thank you," Willow said sincerely.

They were all starting to calm when they heard a crash and Dawn's yell, Buffy came rushing in back from the porch where she was, followed shortly by Spike. The M'Fashnik demon was attacking Dawn, Buffy quickly got the upper hand and lead the demon to the kitchen, while struggling with it, the slayer asked someone to open the basement's door, Spike did and both the Slayer and the demon fell down the stairs, Buffy took advantage of the flooded basement to defeat the demon.

"Wow, that was great," Phoebe said amazed for seeing for the first time a slayer in action.


	8. Chapter 8

Next morning at the Summers' residence, when the scoobies where cleaning the mess left after the M'fashnik attack, Buffy got a call from Angel, who got word about her being back. They needed to see each other.

They didn't want to wait until night to gather, so Buffy called Paige to ask her if she could orb to Sunnydale to get her.

Buffy left the house, and on purpose leaving her friends there dealing with the mess, she didn't want to deal with her financial problems, and above all she still didn't feel comfortable at all around them.

She told them that she and Angel would meet somewhere in between Sunnydale and L.A, but just because she wanted some privacy of her whereabouts; she didn't want anyone following her just because they were worried about her.

Outside the house, she walked to the end of the street, where Paige orbed.

"Why did you ask me to orb here instead of your house?" Paige asked curious.

"Too crowded," Buffy replied with a sigh.

Paige nodded in understanding, "so, you wanna orb to L.A with Angel?" she asked grabbing Buffy's hand ready to orb.

"No… well yes, but I was thinking if we could go get him and then orb to his old mansion?" Buffy asked.

"Sure," Paige said and they orbed to the Hyperion.

On the hotel's lobby, the white and blue light appeared, revealing Paige and Buffy. Fred and Cordelia were there, and they were shocked to see how they got there.

"Buffy!" Cordelia said with a mix of happiness and shock and walked towards her.

"Hi Cordy," Buffy said with a light lopsided grin. Both awkwardly hug each other.

Soon introductions were made between the fang gang and Buffy and Paige.

"Buffy…" came Angel's voice from the stairs.

Buffy turned to see him and without saying anything both walked towards each other, both staring, when they were close enough, Buffy put her arms around him, at first it was as if he didn't believe she was really there, it took him a few seconds to return the embrace.

"You're really here," said Angel softly enveloping himself in her scent.

As asked, Paige orbed Buffy and Angel to Sunnydale, to the mansion.

"Thank you… and, can we talk later?" Buffy said to Paige.

"Sure," Paige answered with a smile, "I'm just an orb away," she waved to Angel and orbed out.

"So… you're back…" Angel said, "how?"

"Willow, she and the others made a spell."

"How are you dealing? you seem pretty calm," he looked at her eyes, and after a beat he understood her apparent calmness, "you weren't in Hell… where you?"

Buffy stared for a while, not saying anything for a beat, "what makes you say that?"

"I came back tormented from hell," he said remembering how he felt when he came back from it in that same spot.

"I remember," Buffy said, indeed she remembered how wild Angel behaved.

"And you," Angel said, "you look tormented but… by being here."

"I could never fool you," she said with a light chuckle, and at the same time her eyes were teary, "It is hard… being here, everything is… restless… nightmare after nightmare, and… my friends try to help, I know they brought me back to help me, they didn't know where I was… and I don't want to tell them, they would feel guilty and I know things would get weird between us, they'll treat me different and… I don't know if I will be able to handle it."

"I understand, but, also you should ask yourself, can you handle the lie? How long would you be able to hide the truth?"

"Does it matter? I can't handle life itself… one little lie won't make it any better or worse, at least that way they would be at peace and they won't be all over me."

"Buffy, I know you'll find the strength to keep going, you're back for a reason."

"A spell was the reason."

"Fair enough, but the spell was just a tool and Willow the vessel to make it possible because it had to be done, and maybe you can't see the purpose now but I know that Willow hadn't been able to bring you back if you weren't worthy to cross over."

"Come again?"

"It takes a great amount of power and will to perform a spell like that, but it has to come from both ends, which means you had the power and the will to come back, and that strength is still in you."

Buffy thought about that, she was wondering if while being up there she wanted to come back.

"Willow opened the door and offered her hand, it was your choice to take her hand or turn around, and now you're struggling with adaptation, not only to life but to your body, to emotions, to people, it's a hard road but I can assure you it's a road worth taking," Angel explained.

"I don't want to take that road, I just… everything was over for me, I was done, now I don't even know how to deal even with the simpler things… I don't want to be here, the only thing I've been doing ever since I got back has been slaying, otherwise I don't feel anything, it's like only the Slayer came back… and the normal Buffy is lost, somewhere and she doesn't want to be found… am I making any sense?"

"The Slayer has always been a part of who you are, not a different person… it's not like Angelus and me… if you find comfort in slaying, in fighting, then do it, if that's what makes you feel something then don't deny that instinct, that craving… what would you lose… your soul?" Angel finished half joking.

Buffy smiled at that, "thank you Angel."

Angel smiled, "just take one day at the time."

They sat there in silence, enjoying each other's company, even though their feelings weren't as intense as they used to be, they still cared a lot for each other.

A couple of hours later Buffy called Paige and asked her to orb Angel back, Fred called him and said that he was needed in L.A.

Paige did and then orbed back to the mansion where Buffy waited.

"Everything ok?" Paige asked Buffy.

"Yeah, he showed me a different perspective of things, and… it'll be hard, but I'll give it a shot to… being alive and stuff."

"I can't even imagine what you're going through, but I'll be here for you all the way," Paige told her.

"I know… you've always been, and of the few things I find worthy living for, your friendship is one of them." Buffy said.

"Ditto," Paige replied with a smile.

"I heard you, Phoebe and Giles talking to Willow last night," Buffy said after they fell in silence for a minute, "I don't know much about magic and its consequences, but I trust you to help her… to guide her… "

"She messed up with dangerous power, but I think it's a good sign that she isn't insane by now, I mean, it's not as if she's thirst of power or anything… she seems controlled, but still, we'll keep an eye on her."

Buffy nodded, she knew she should support Willow too, but she still didn't want to get involved with anything for now, she still felt a stranger amongst everything and everyone.

Paige's cell rang; she spoke briefly with Phoebe and sighed.

"Want to do random stuff?" Paige asked her friend.

"Everything seems random to me nowadays, so anything will do."

"Well, then come to the Manor and help us gather some golden eggs," Paige said with a grin and took Buffy's hand, they orbed to San Francisco to the Manor.

There Phoebe was chasing a goose and saw Paige and Buffy orb in.

"Hi you two," she greeted them, "I thought you said you tied them up," Phoebe asked her younger sister.

"I did, but the little flockers got loose," Paige answered.

"Okay, we have to do better than this for Piper. I mean, if we can't keep geese away from her, how are we supposed to protect her from demons?" Phoebe asked.

"Okay, you're right, you're right, we should take turns guarding the manor. You know, who knows what kind of weirdo stuff's gonna show up here?" Paige was saying as they heard a neighing noise coming from the kitchen, they went to find out what was the noise and found a white unicorn standing in the kitchen.

"Is that your pet?" Buffy asked impressed by what she was seeing.

"Oh my goodness, it's a unicorn," Paige said surprised.

"Yes, it is. In our kitchen. Is that another baby present you think, maybe?" Phoebe wondered starting to panic.

"Yeah, the best one ever," Paige said as she walked over to the unicorn and pet it.

"Okay, Paige, while unicorns may be very magical and cool, I'm not so sure it's appropriate for a baby."

"Oh, come on Phoebe, our little niece will grow into it." Paige noticed a card around its neck, "hey, look, there's a card, from El… El? Do we know anybody in Spain?"

"Paige, I don't care who it's from, okay? It just can't be here now. It's way too much stress for Piper and the baby, okay? So just orb it out of here."

Paige placed her and on the unicorn and tries to orb, she glowed in orbs for a little while but then the orbs vanished.

"What was that?" Phoebe asked.

"I can't orb it."

"Okay, stand back. Uh, "take this beast, before I end her, ship her back, return to sender." Nothing happened, "Wait, why aren't my powers working?"

"Apple," Paige called for it, nothing happened either

Phoebe tried to levitate but isn't able to. "I can't levitate, I'm grounded."

Leo rushed in, "something's wrong, I can't orb. I was trying to go to the Elders to find out how to get rid of the golden geese and why is there a unicorn in the kitchen?... o hi Buffy."

"Hi," Buffy replied still staring at the unicorn.

"Forget the unicorn, our magic's down too!" Paige told him.

"Hello? Where is everybody?" Piper called from the stairs.

"Go put her back to bed!" Phoebe said to Leo who rushed out of the kitchen. "alright, Paige, Buffy, uh, you take the magical farm animals and put them down in the basement. I'm gonna get the book and I'll meet you down there," Phoebe said and she left.

"Alright, you're Spanish… Andale!" Paige talked to the unicorn waving her arms and clicking her fingers, it didn't budge.

Buffy pulled gently but firm the unicorn by its collar, "where do you want it?"

"Take it to the basement, I'll get the geese."

Buffy offered to take care of the magical animals while the sisters found out what was going on with their powers. She came out of the basement when she heard an unknown male's voice.

"They call me Stanley," the demon said forming a fireball in his hand, it vanished "I was afraid of that."

"At least it's a level playing field," Paige said from the stairs.

Stanley attacked Paige, he knocked her to the floor, grabbed a marble tabletop from nearby and held it above his head ready to hit. Buffy ran to tackle him, they both rolled through the floor. Phoebe ran in holding a knife.

"Knife!" Buffy yelled as she saw Phoebe, the middle Halliwell threw the knife to Buffy who caught it and stabbed Stanley in the chest.

"My name will haunt you to your grave," Stanley said before dying.

"What was his name again?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't remember," Paige said. Buffy shrugged.

"Okay, so we have no powers, demons have no powers, what is going on here?" Phoebe asked to Leo who was coming down the stairs.

"I don't know. I just got a call from a charge and her powers are down too. So I unplugged the phone just in case we get any more calls. I don't want Piper to panic."

"Oh, well, it's official. Magic's down everywhere," Paige stated.

The unicorn neighed and walked into the dining room. The doorbell rang.

"Oh god, that's probably dad," Phoebe said.

"I'll get the unicorn," Leo said.

"We got the body," Paige said pointing to herself and Buffy. They put the body in the closet.

Seeing everything clear, Phoebe opened the door. Victor and a woman are there.

"Phoebe, Paige," Victor greeted, "I'd like you to meet Doris, my new wife and your new stepmother," he said casually.

"Hi!" Doris said cheerful.

The sisters introduced Buffy to Victor and then the slayer decided to give them some privacy to deal with their family situations.

A couple of hours later the doorbell rang again. It was Cronyn, a sorcerer who sent Stanley earlier, he offered a summit between good and evil to find a way to get magic back.

Later, Leo, Phoebem Paige and Buffy were at the attic.

"That was Cronyn," Paige said as she hung up the phone, "he says he'll meet us in an hour, he suggested one of his, you know, dark chambers, I suggested Manny's Pizzeria."

"Nice, public venue, way to go. What is that?" Phoebe asked pointing at a liquid Paige was mixing.

"This would be a pipe bomb, dear."

"Oh, what..."

"I was good at chem lab in high school. How's the candle going?"

"Fine, it just needs a few minutes to set," Leo answered Paige, "are you sure it's gonna give us smoke?"

"Total whiteout, as long as you put six parts of saltpetre in there."

"Okay, we have one flammable spray can, one lotion bottle bomb, a smoking candle, two sharpened nail files, four cayenne pepper spray straws, and assorted rings and bracelets?" Leo said. Phoebe showed her hands revealing her fingers covered in rings.

"Well, it kinda makes you appreciate your powers, doesn't it?" Paige said.

"We don't need no stinkin' powers to kick some demon ass." Phoebe said.

"I'm with you there," Buffy said.

"Well, maybe you two don't. You're better with your mono-e-mono stuff. Speaking of, I have some extra gifts for you, my dears." Paige said, they went over to a chest.

"These were mine and now they're yours," Paige pulled out some items, "chain mail top from my club days, steel toed boots from my mosh pit days, handcuffs, from last Friday…"

"Hey, do you think we're making a huge mistake by not telling Piper about this?" Phoebe asked.

"No, absolutely not, I think she needs to relax," Paige answered.

"I agree," Leo added, "Piper's not just carrying the next generation of Halliwell, she's carrying the next generation of magic."

"Then let's save the day," Buffy said as she put on the steeled boots.

Soon the three of them walked into the pizza shop, they walked to Croning who was with other two men.

"This is Merrill, our highest ranking wizard and personal mentor. Kane, top advisor to the warlocks," Cronyn said.

"Check their bags for weapons."

"Like we'd attack in front of civilians. That's why we chose a public place," Paige said.

"You can't be too safe, you know," Cronyn took their handbags, "who's she?" he asked looking at Buffy.

"Backup," Buffy replied matching Cronyn's glare.

"What's with the candle?"

"We thought we'd try a wiccan ritual or two to try to bring back magic." Phoebe lied.

"Let's get down to business," Cronyn gave them their handbags back.

"Okay, well, wait a minute, bubs. How do we know you guys aren't packing weapons?"

"You mean like this?" Kane stood up and pulled out a big knife. The room fell into silence.

"Did it just get very quiet in here?" Phoebe noted.

"You don't think we'd pass up the opportunity to take out the Charmed Ones, now do you?" Cronyn said.

Everyone around the room stood up holding their weapons, Phoebe, Paige and Buffy were surrounded.

With a strong blow, a demon sent Phoebe crashing through a window, she landed behind a table. Another demon hits Paige sending her flying across the room, she falls to the floor. A third attacker tried to kick Buffy but she blocked it easily and knocked him down.

Phoebe rose to her feet, "how did you do it? This place must've been crawling with customers."

"We paid them to leave. Of course, the owner wanted to stay but he's browning in the pizza oven." Cronyn laughed.

"What about magic? Who's gonna fix it?" Paige asked.

"I got that covered. Which is more than I can say for you three."

Phoebe took out a hairspray can and held it up, demons moved closer and she threw fire at them with the help of a lighter. Paige lighted her lotion bottle bomb and threw it at them. Phoebe, Paige and Buffy ducked for cover as the bomb blew up the whole place. Demons groaned in pain.

"We've gotta fight our way out of this or die trying. You ready?" Phoebe said, she received nods in response.

Phoebe lighted the smoke candle and threw it, smoke filled the room.

Buffy was the first to attack, she punched and kicked every enemy that approached her, Phoebe and Paige backed her up; none of them noticed as Cronyn left the pizzeria.

Minutes later all demons were knocked out or badly injuried.

"Where's Cronyn?" Phoebe asked to one conscious demon.

"He had business to attend to."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Phoebe handcuffed him to a chair, Paige walks over and kneeled beside him, Buffy handed her a knife,

"Did Croning bring down magic?" Paige interrogated holding the knife to his throat.

"He doesn't have the power." Merril said.

"No, but you do," Phoebe stated.

"Of course, you're his mentor," Paige realized.

"What happened to magic?" Phoebe asked him, he didn't respond.

"Answer the question," Buffy said as she walked closer menacingly.

"Centuries ago, I unearthed a quatrain from the tomb of a wise apothecary. "When three planets burn as one over a sky of dancing light, and magic will rest for a holy day to welcome a twice blessed child."

"Cronyn is not after us..." Paige said with fear.

"He's after Piper's baby. Oh my god," Phoebe said and pulled out her cell phone to dial to the manor.

"That's why he led us here to our slaughter so the Power of Three couldn't find him. When do we get our powers back?" Paige asked him.

"When it's too late to use them," Merril answered.

"The house line's dead," Phoebe told them.

"Magic won't return to the world until the baby is born, which should be any minute," Merril said.

The three hurried back to the manor, as soon as they arrived they heard Piper scream. Phoebe started to head upstairs but Paige stopped her, she was sure Cronyn wouldn't hurt Piper while she was in labor. They headed to the basement instead.

Down there, Paige scrapped a knife along the unicorn's horn and gathers the dust.

"A unicorn's horn is pure concentrated magic," she explained, "see, I told you all magic wasn't down."

In the meantime, Cronyn was with Piper in her room.

"What was that?" he asked when he heard a noise.

"The witches?" Doris suggested.

"You stay here," Cronyn said to Doris, he grabbed a knife and left the room.

"Where is my father? What did you do to him?" Piper asked in spite of the pain.

"Shh, don't worry about such things. Child birth is painful enough," Doris said.

"If you do anything to my baby, I will kill you. I will hunt you and kill you. Even if it means coming back from the dead and don't think I won't find a way to do that," Piper threatened.

"We're not going to hurt your baby, Piper. We're going to raise her as our own. She's going to be a powerful leader, a great force of evil. You should be proud, very proud," Doris turned around to wet a cloth into a bowl, Piper took the opportunity to grab a vase from the side table and smashed it over Doris head, she fell unconscious and Piper got out of bed as fast as she could in her state.

Weakly Piper headed to the stairs but she fell,

"Stupid witch. You could've killed the both of you," Cronyn said coming from the kitchen.

"Ohh, she caught me off guard," Doris said walking down the stairs.

"Get away from me!" Piper said when both were right beside her.

Phoebe, Paige and Buffy came around the corner.

"Step aside, bitch!" Phoebe said.

"Yeah, that's our job," Paige said.

Cronyn held the knife against Piper's neck, "move, even breathe and she's dead."

"Vanquish him, Phoebe," Piper said fighting against contractions.

"Your sister will die." Cronyn said.

"Kill him," Piper pleaded.

"How can I?" Phoebe wasn't sure of what to do.

"Phoebe, if you love me, you will send this crazy bastard straight to hell."

Surprising everybody, Victor made his way down the stairs and with all of his strength he threw Cronyng over the railing giving the opportunity to Paige to throw a handful of unicorn dust at Cronyn.

"Beast of legend, myth and lore, give my words the power to soar, and kill this evil evermore," Phoebe chanted.

Cronyn and Doris ran to the door but before they got there they were vanquished.

Wasting no time, Phoebe ran to get a doctor's kit, and asked Buffy to place some pillows and a blanket over the dining room table. Paige helped Piper up.

[Time lapse. Phoebe races into the dining room carrying a doctor's kit.]

"Okay, you're doing great, sweetie. Yes, you are. Let's see what we have here," Phoebe said as they were all set, she pulled up Piper's nightgown, "oh! I see a head of dark hair."

Piper began to cry, "you do?" she asked excited, Buffy couldn't help but smile at what was happening, she's never seen a birth before.

"What'd you expect? A blonde?" Paige joked.

"What did I miss?" Leo asked as he rushed in.

"A lot" his wife told him. Paige threw him the satchel of unicorn dust, "Victor needs help, try this."

"Dad?... I'm sorry about your demon wife," Piper said when she saw her father healed.

Lep walked over to Piper and put his arm around her for support.

"Okay, push. Push. Come on, push!" Phoebe said.

Piper squeezed the edge of the table and pushes hard, a light shone down on them.

"I guess magic's coming back," Paige said looking at the light.

"Here we go, here we go… oh, I see a shoulder….and another shoulder... and an arm," Phoebe gently pulls the baby out, "Oh, and something else, something else," she cut the umbilical cord and picked the baby up, he was glowing in orbing like lights.

"Oh. Is that what I think it is?" Paige asked as she got a better glimpse of the baby.

"If you're referring to Mr. Winkie between the legs, yes."

"You mean, I got a boy?" Leo realized.

"Here you go, mama," Phoebe handed Piper her son.

"Hi. Hi, little guy, what are you doing? Look what we did." She said to Leo.

"I see," Leo said full of pride.

"It's a miracle," Paige said.

"He's beautiful," Phoebe smiled at the baby.

"You are safe, you are loved, and you are wise," Piper said with a huge smile, "how ya doing?"

They all were full of joy, watching at the baby, Buffy approached and held his small hand into her, she felt a warm feeling when the baby gripped her finger. Paige noticed how this time Buffy's smile did reach her eyes, it wasn't a fake smile as she had been showing ever since she was brought back.

Buffy saw that Paige was staring at her and smiled at her friend, "things like this… are worth living for," the slayer said, finally deciding to try harder to adapt to life again.


	9. Chapter 9

Days went by, the sisters fought against demons who were after the baby, Paige went to a magic black market to find out who was after her nephew and was almost killed by parasite demons. Piper and Leo were looking for names for their son and named him Wyatt Matthew in honor of Leo and Paige.

Phoebe was busy at her job, because of the new boss, and Piper was busy with Wyatt, so Paige orbed to Sunnydale to see the scoobies and see how they were.

She orbed to the training room of the magic box, Giles, Anya and Buffy were there, she heard Buffy saying "this is gonna be great," but she sounded unconvinced.

Paige walked outside the training room and greeted the others, "hi guys," she said and received greets in return.

"Any interesting curse?" Paige asked Buffy, she stared blankly at her, Paige pointed to Buffy's name tag which read – Hi, I'm Buffy, Ask me about curses.-

"Fine, mock me," Buffy said playfully hitting Paige in the arm, Giles and Anya looked at them not at all playfylly, "because, retail is great," Buffy said almost choking, "I've always been interested in… interested in retail…" she said still unconvinced. Paige rolled her eyes.

They walked with Giles who went towards the table to pile some books.

"Is this all for research?" Buffy asked Giles looking at all the books.

"Either that or some kind of stress test for the table," Paige added.

"I want to be thorough. The time-anomaly and the demon attack could be unrelated events, but if they're not, you're in some danger," Giles explained

"So, situation normal then," Buffy said dryly.

"A demon messed up with time?" Paige asked

"Maybe, or could be something else, it was weird, time went by really fast, literally an hour passed in seconds," Buffy explained her, "and then some icky demons attacked me at the construction site and got me fired," she said the last part bitterly.

"Fired? You got a job?" Paige asked not getting the whole story.

Anya came from the counter, "Let's review," she said.

Buffy glanced at Paige, "I'll tell you all later," she received a nod from Paige.

"You record returns here. And these are the forms for special orders, they're shipped wherever the customer wants. And these are the hold slips," Anya went into details about how the shop was managed, Buffy tried to stay interested but her mind is somewhere else.

Paige walks through the shop looking at the items, she takes some herbs and put them on the counter.

"Here, I'll be your first customer," Paige told Buffy right when Anya and Giles finished their explanations.

"This is so not my thing," Buffy whispered to Paige as she started to bag the bought items.

"Don't worry, maybe you'll get lucky and time accelerates again," Paige joked.

"One can hope," Buffy replied with a smile, she was really glad Paige was there, she felt better when she was around, no need to pretend anything, she could be in any mood she felt like and knew Paige wouldn't judge, instead she would help. That feelings freedom made her feel relaxed.

Buffy and Paige were near the window talking when the bell on the door jingled, a woman entered, Giles approached Buffy.

"Buffy, a little advice, while I ran the store I found it helpful to imagine I was back in the library," he said as he cleaned his glasses, "if you concentrate on service, not making a sale, then you're more likely to have a satisfied customer."

"I guess I'll find my own style."

"Yes, yes, quite right," he said distracted.

Anya walks to them, "that woman, Go sell her something!" she said to Buffy who walked towards the customer but is stopped by a man, he was looking at some candles.

"Miss?" he called as Buffy was walking by, "Which candle creates a more, you know, romantic atmosphere?"

Buffy took a candle and smelled it, "lemon seduction, nice," she then smelled another one and made a face, "eww, essence of slug," she gave the man the first candle, "here ya go."

"Can I help you?" Buffy said to the woman.

"I need something for a prosperity spell, I heard you had it… a mummy hand," the woman said.

Buffy suddenly looked defeated and tired, "I know we promised you a Mummy Hand, It's just... I can't get it for you, it's... something's wrong with it, it's defective."

"Defective? Are you sure? There must be something you can do. I simply can't go without it."

"But there's no way to get..." Buffy was saying but slowly started to smile as she found an answer and spoke again, "… to get that hand. But I can special-order one. We can deliver it anywhere you want!"

"Really?" asked the woman pleased.

They walked to the counter to fill the forms. "Thanks for shopping at the Magic Box!" Buffy said as she finished the sale.

Buffy seemed relieved when the woman left.

"Congratulations!" Giles said proudly, "your first sales."

"You didn't charge for delivery," said Anya a little upset.

"Oh dear. Well, it's your first day. It was bound to happen." Giles said

"I'll just take it out of your pay," Anya said cheerfully.

"I'm sure Buffy understands that," Giles said softly.

"Absolutely," Buffy said as she took off her name tag and put it over the counter, Paige frowned at that and followed the slayer outside the magic box.

"Hey, what's up?" Paige asked when she reached her at the street.

"That was frustrating," Buffy said with a sigh.

"What are you talking about? You handled it well, and the woman seemed satisfied," Paige said.

"I told you before, something weird was going on with that mummy hand."

"You did?" Paige asked confused.

Buffy nodded, "time loop… different results every time… stupid mommy hand," she finished with a pout.

"Something like that happened to Phoebe and me."

"Yeah you said you were gonna tell me more about it."

"I did?" Paige asked and Buffy just stared, "time loop, got it," Paige added.

Paige looped her arm with Buffy's, and started to walk "well, it's over now, why don't we go get something to eat?"

"Fine… but only if you pay," Buffy replied with a shrug.

"I don't have a job either, remember?" Paige said with a light laugh, "but don't worry, I got it covered."

The rest of the afternoon they stayed at the Espresso Pump, Buffy told Paige about what happened earlier at campus, and then with Xander at the construction site and went into detail about the time loop. Paige told her what happened in the black market and about how because of a spell Piper casted, she and Phoebe got stuck inside of Piper's and Leo's memories and managed to save their cat that turned out to be a human, their familiar.

At night Buffy went to patrol, Paige tagged along.

"I don't know what to do," Buffy said not meeting Paige's eyes, "I'm worried... this attacks..."

"I know you," Paige interrupted, "the attacks aren't the issue, as a Slayer you're used to random attacks almost every day."

"Just as you as a Charmed one." Buffy said and Paige nodded.

"So what are you really worried about, adaptation?"

"Life's harsh... not only because of being back, but... being an adult sucks," Buffy said, "when mom was alive, she managed to raise Dawn and me, and she dealt with the real problems of the normal world, I'm only good at dealing with supernatural stuff, when she died I didn't have time to get involved in those real world problems, and now that I'm back I have to face economical problems and future plans and stuff... I've never dealt with any of those before, I don't even know what to begin with."

"Sometimes it's a lot easier face demons and monsters than real life," Paige agreed, "but, you'll get the hang of it, things will get better, just let yourself go and don't let problems overwhelm you."

"Well, first things first, let's deal with the easier problem, let's find out about the demon attacks," Buffy said walking straight to a crypt.

"In an old crypt?" Paige asked puzzled.

Buffy opened the door and Paige was surprised to see a fridge, a tv and a couch.

"Look what we've got here," Spike said coming up from the tunnel that lead below the crypt.

"Spike, I need your help... there's a demon or somehting messing up with time and... there was an attack..." Buffy began.

"Shh, calm down luv," Spike interrupted, "haven't heard of any demon after you." Spike said as he took a sip from his flask.

Buffy sighed, she glanced at the flask, without a word, she took it from Spike's grip and took a sip too. Spike and Paige just glared.

"Come on," Spike motion them both to follow him downstairs. There they sat more comfortably, Paige looking at the huge space and found it interesting how it looked cozy in spite of being a hole in the ground.

Spike grabbed three shot glasses and filled them with whiskey, he handed one to Buffy and Paige each, Buffy accepted and Paige refused.

"What, too cheap for you luv?" Spike asked Paige.

"It's tempting actually, but can't… I had uhm… alcohol problems a while ago."

Spike didn't push her, he drank her shot, and Buffy drank hers. Spike and Paige watched with amusement how she made a face and shuddered. Even that she took the flask and refilled her glass, she drank it fast.

"Take it slow," Paige warned, she knew Buffy wasn't good with alcohol, and she wasn't thrilled about her friend drinking but on the other hand she understood very well how convenient alcohol is during stressful moments and problems.

Spike refilled his and Buffy's glass again, Buffy nodded lightly at Paige and didn't drink her shot immediately as Spike did.

"Life is stupid," Buffy said.

"I have a dim memory of that, and I didn't figure you were here cadging my whiskey cuz life is all blood and peaches," Spike replied.

"There's this thing, someone's doing stuff to me, messing up my life… 'cept that it was kinda pre-messed already… school, jobs… pretty bad even without the evil," Buffy said.

"So you're just, what, gonna let this whoever play you until it figures out what kills you?" Spike asked.

"We're working on it," Paige said, then frowned, "well… Giles is anyway."

"Oh, good, cuz Giles weilds the mighty force of library books," Spike snorted.

"You'd do better?" Buffy mockingly asked and drank her shot, then poured for both of them.

"Damn right. I'd hit the demon world, ask questions, throw punches, find out what's in the air. Fun, too," Spike said and drank.

"Not my kind of fun," Buffy said.

Paige noticed that she was starting to talk a little bit drunk.

"Yeah it is, and your life's gonna get a lot less confusing when you figure that out," Spike said, Buffy drank again, Spike continued, "You're not a schoolgirl, you're not a shop girl… you're a creature of darkness, like me… try on my world, see how good it feels."

Buffy tried to pour another drink but Paige stopped her. Buffy glared at her.

"Are there drinks in your world?" Buffy asked Spike, he smirked.

The three of them left the crypt, Paige tried to convince Buffy to go home but the Slayer denied.

Spike was worried about Buffy too, but he liked more the fact of spending time with her and really wanted to help her with the demon problem.

They arrived to a demon's bar, Spike handed cash to the lizard like bartender and ordered, "my usual Dave," he turned to Paige, "water?" he asked and she nodded, "and water for the lady."

"We're headin' for the back room, pet," Spike said to Buffy, "is where the real action is."

The bartender gave Paige a glass of water and he was about to pour whiskey on two glasses but Buffy took the bottle from him.

The three of them enter the back room, there some demons were in the middle of a poker game.

"These lowlifes know everything happens in this town," Spike said quietly to Buffy and Paige.

Spike took a vacant spot left by a demon who menaced him because of the fact that Spike fights against demons now.

"You're gonna play cards?" Buffy asked dissapointedly.

"I need a moment with my lady," Spike said politely to the other players, he and Buffy step to the side.

"You wanna play, that's fine. I'm sticking to the plan… who do I kill first to get information?" Buffy said looking at the players.

"These guys talk while they play. We'll get more information out of their mouths than out of gaping holes in their corpses." Spike explained then returned to his spot. Buffy took a huge sip directly from the bottle.

"Why don't we leave Buffy? Let Spike find out things his own way," Paige said quietly to Buffy.

The Slayer considered it for a bit, then nodded, they were about to walk out when the demons put a basket full of kittens over the table.

"Kittens?! You're playing for kittens?" Buffy asked almost yelling, she walked sloppy and approached the table, she took the basket and freed the kittens, "scamper! Be free!"

She and Paige lwalked out and left Spike and the rest of the demons gather the kittens.

Outside Buffy drank from the bottle again, Paige took it from her, "that's enough Buffy."

Buffy yanked the bottle back, "no! feels good," she took the bottle to her lips and continued drinking.

"I know, but trust me… you'll regret it once it wears off."

Just then, Spike got out the bar, "what's wrong, love?"

"What's wrong? You were gonna help me! You were gonna beat heads and fix my life!" Buffy said completely drunk, "but you're c'mpletely lame!... Tonight sucks! And look at me! Look at Stupid Buffy! Too dumb for college! And, and, and freak Buffy! Too strong for construction work! Then there was the store. I was bored to tears even before the hour that wouldn't die! And the only persons I can even stand to be with anymore is a witch that lives in another city and a neutered vampire who likes Kitten-Poker!... also, I think you're drunk!" she turned around and stormed off.

Paige and Spike followed and stomped on her as she suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Paige asked.

"That van, I've seen it before," Buffy said looking at a parked van.

Buffy unsteadily approached the van, Spike and Paige staggered behind. Suddenly a horned demon jumped right in front of her, he seemed menacing, red, tall and muscled with wings.

The demon roared, "You have discovered me! Do not even try to defeat me, for I have been testing you and know all your weaknesses!" he said as the van drove away.

Buffy tried to punch him, and he clumsily ducked the punch, Buffy kicks him and falls down. Spike and Paige run to help her up.

"'m okay!" she said resisting the help, "I got it, get off me!"

The demon staggered back dramatically, "I am well struck! I call upon the misty portal to my demon dimension… There to lay my head and gently die," he threw something to the ground and produced a large puff of smoke.

"He blew up… did you see it?" Buffy said temporary blinded by the smoke that was so close to her, "Gotta love that, makes me all powerful and… strong and… Kinda sick..." she wobbled and would had fell if not were for Spike that held her.

"Can you take care of her?" Spike asked Paige, "I'll see if I can track that demon, I think I saw him running away behind that smoke."

"I've got her," Paige said as she placed Buffy's arm around her shoulders and orbed away.

They orbed in Buffy's room, Paige helped her to sit on the bed.

"How did you handle this," Buffy asked feeling dizzy and with nausea.

"Had years of practice," Paige said softly, "why did you do it Buffy… you know better than that."

"You should know, as an alcoholic you'd be the one who can understand," Buffy said in a harsh tone.

"As an alcoholic I understand you're fooling yourself," Paige replied hurt, matching Buffy's tone.

"So? If I'm fooling everyone around why can't I fool myself?" Buffy said as she lied down on her bed.

"Because that's not who you are!" Paige tried to reason with her.

"Well that's not me anymore!" Buffy snapped, "I died! I'm just an echo of what I used to be, what makes you think you know me at all huh? Stop pushing me!"

Paige pained replied, "I know you because you're my best friend! And you know me better than anyone, not even my sisters know me as well as you do… and I don't push you… I just want to bring out the real you!"

"The real me?" Buffy laughed and rose to sit on the bed, "the real me is supposed to be dead! Nothing more… the friend you knew is dead, and all that's left is an empty shell."

"Is that what you think?" Paige said softly, "believe it or not I know you better than you think."

"Stop thinking you know me that well!" Buffy said frustrated, "I don't even know me, so stop assuming you know who I'm supposed to be now."

Paige got angry and left the room, she headed downstairs and found Giles.

"Hi," she said softly, "Buffy's upstairs in her room, she got pretty drunk, can you go check on her?"

Giles agreed and Paige orbed before he said anything. He walked to the kitchen and poured a glass of water, then he headed up to Buffy's room, he wanted to talk to her anyway.

Buffy wasn't in her room anymore, Giles heard her throwing up in the bathroom, he waited for her outside.

When she finished she took the glass Giles offered and both went to her room.

"Feel better?" Giles asked.

"For a second there I actually turned completely inside out. But yeah, better," she sat on the floor next to the bed, her head started to clear up, "Giles, I'm really screwing up," she said with guilt.

"You were being sequentially tested by an unknown demon. I don't see how that's screwing up."

"No, it completely is. Because I let it set the rules. And even worse, I let all you guys do the same thing! Do this thing, be this way, blah blah… and I put the blame where it didn't belong."

"Well, that is an extremely awkward transition to me giving you advice, but I will, go easy on yourself, won't you? You don't need to figure it out all at once, a job and all… You're pushing yourself too hard," Giles tried to make her feel better.

"The nice people at the phone company seem to think it's not hard enough," Buffy said.

"Well, I may be able to do something about that. I… this, this is for you," he handed her a check.

"A check, Giles, I can't take this," she looked in awe at it, "It's too much."

"Fine. I'll just tear it up then, shall I?" he moved to retrieve it but Buffy held the check closer.

"I was just being polite. I'm taking the money. This is great. More than great. Like, I don't really know how to say this... I guess, it's a little like having Mom back."

"This is a scenario in which I am your mother?"

"Wanna be my shiftless absentee father?"

"Is there some sort of rakish uncle in this mapping?"

"I'm just saying... Giles, thank you… So much," Buffy got up and walked away, "I'm gonna show this to Dawn. She loves it when stuff gets, like, easy," she paused for a beat, "just to let you know. This... it really makes me feel… safe, knowing you're always gonna be there," Buffy said, in her head regret for how she spoke to Paige.


	10. Chapter 10

Buffy and Paige hadn't spoken to each other since the time Buffy got drunk, and not because they were avoiding, but also because they got busy with their own inner and outer demons.

The youngest Charmed one was turned into a Nymph. She and Piper were sort of competing against each other to be head witch, Paige wanted to take the lead so that Piper could spend time with Wyatt.

Paige returned to normal when her calling as a witch was stronger than the Nymph's free spirit call. And Piper and her decided to both be head witch equally.

Then no longer after that, the sisters lose their senses, Piper couldn't see, Phoebe couldn't hear and Paige couldn't speak, at first they had a hard time to understand each other but after some practice and their connection they were able to communicate without much trouble, as if sensing what each other were thinking.

On Sunnydale, recently all the town burst into song, every person sang their true feelings, thoughts and fears and nobody could control when the singing happened.

During a song, Buffy confessed to her friends that she was living in hell because she was pulled out from heaven. The scoobies felt guilty, specially Willow. She was proud about performing such a strong spell and saved Buffy from hell, but now she felt all the opposite, now she understood why Buffy didn't say thank you to her for bringing her back.

Willow started abusing magic, she used it for every thing, big or small, her solution for everything was always magic.

Tara talked to her, she didn't like how Willow used magic all the time. Due to that disagreement, they had a fight and instead of talking about it, Willow made a spell to make Tara forget about the fight and their disagreement in the use of magic, and also the spell was for Buffy too, to make her forget about being in heaven.

That memory spell backfired, and all the scoobies, Spike included, got amnesia; luckily, by accident Xander broke the spell by breaking the crystal Willow used.

Tara was disappointed of Willow, the red haired had promised she wouldn't use magic for a week, but she broke that promise soon with the memory spell. Tara left Willow shortly after that.

Willow went from bad to worse, looking for someone to be her magical buddy, she managed to de-rat Amy after three years of being that way. Amy was amazed by Willow's advance in magic, they had fun casting spells on people at the Bronze and Amy took Willow to a hidden place where they got stuffed with more magic. Rack was the name of the man who gave them that borrowed magic, making them feel more powerful and free, even if it were for a while but the feeling of that power overdose didn't compare to anything else they've experienced before.

Secretly Willow kept going to Rack's place, but one day she made the mistake to take Dawn with her and that night ended up with the teen getting hurt.

That was enough for Willow to decide to stop using magic, she didn't want any of her friends to get hurt because of her. She contacted the Charmed ones to get help. Willow left to San Francisco for a couple of days.

At San Francisco, at the Manor, Willow was flipping through the Book of Shadows.

"Hey, how you doing?" Phoebe asked her as she entered the attic.

"This one is interesting," Willow said with a smile, Phoebe walked closer to see which page Willow was at.

"Vampire Slayer," Phoebe read out loud, returning the smile, "we added that after Buffy explained to us what she was, when Paige found out," Phoebe flipped to the next page and pointed something to Willow, "look."

Willow's eyes went wide, "we… we're on the Book?!" she said excited. On the book next to the Slayer's entry, there was a description of the Slayer's allies, Willow read, "Buffy Summers, Faith Lehane, the current chosen ones. Kendra, the late chosen. Rupert Giles, the Watcher. Alexander Harris, the heart. Willow Rosenberg and Tara McClay, the wiccans. Anya Jenkins, the vengeance ex demon. Riley Finn, the soldier. Daniel Oz Osborne, the werewolf. Jenny Calendar, the techno pagan. Angel/Angelus, the cursed vampire. William the Bloody Spike, the transformed vampire," Willow stared in awe, all the names came with brief descriptions, "I'm honored, I'm sure the gang will be pleased too," she gently touched Tara's name, her smile became a saddened expression.

"I'm sure things will get better between you two," Phoebe reassured.

"I know that… I just wish it were sooner rather than later," Willow changed her expression and looked at Phoebe, "so, any luck in finding how to bound my magic powers?"

"I'm afraid not, Leo is checking with the Elders, but so far all binding potions we've found are meant only for persons who were born with them," Phoebe said.

"I don't get what's the difference, I mean, power is power, isn't it? No matter where it comes from?"

"Technically yes, if you are born with powers, they can be bound into you, the magic comes from within if you're born with it, in your case is different because you take energy and magic from the world, everything is connected, your magic comes from that connection you have with the world… and it's not like we could bind earth's magic," Phoebe explained.

"So I'll go the hard way… the stop cold turkey kinda way," Willow said sounding defeated.

"Maybe not completely stop, you are able to use magic for a reason… magic is everywhere, but not anyone is able to access it, you can control that power, don't let it be the other way around." Phoebe said.

Willow hadn't thought about her abilities that way, she always thought she could do magic because she studied it, she read again her entry on the Book, "Willow Rosenberg and Tara McClay, the wiccans; Willow gained interest in the craft thanks to Jenny Calendar. As an amateur Witch she was powerful enough to restore a soul and successfully place it on the correct vessel, that kind of spell requires a high level witch to perform. Her powers evolved when she met Tara McClay, a born and raised witch who inherit her powers from her mother. Both wiccans had achieved many high level spells together."

"The power is a part of you now, that's why you can't just stop," Phoebe told her, "you have to let it flow naturally, and only when necessary, otherwise there's the risk of power consume you from inside… and trust me, that's something you don't want to feel."

"Has that happened to you?... being consumed by power?" Willow asked her.

Phoebe let out a sigh and sat on the couch, she patted the seat beside her indicating Willow to join her, as soon as Willow sat Phoebe spoke, "once I was the Queen of evil," she said with mock pride, "my boyfriend was a demon, but he turned good… for a while."

"Sounds familiar, Angel was a good vampire, but when he turned evil, Buffy had a hard time fighting against him," Willow said, "but in the end she was decided to kill him when he tried to unleash hell on earth."

"Looks like Buffy and I have more in common than I thought," Phoebe said with a sad smile, "when I married him, he had become the Source of all evil but I didn't know, my sisters tried to warn me but I didn't listen, and when I found out that indeed he was evil again I turned my back on my sisters, but that was in part because by then I carried the source's evil spawn and his power was consuming me from inside… I could feel it controlling me… even I attacked Paige in many occasions because the unborn baby didn't like her," she finished with a small smile, "she was the one who never fully trusted Cole."

Willow stared in awe, "wow, that must had been hard, choosing between your sisters and your husband and child," she looked at the saddened expression in the middle Halliwell, "oh, sorry, I shouldn't had said that."

"It's okay, I'm over that… the point is, that even if you fall for power, it's possible to go back, the important thing is to let others help you," Phoebe said, Willow nodded in response.

Willow stayed in San Francisco for a couple of weeks, the sisters helped her to understand more her power and control it, they taught her about personal gain and other rules.

During that time, at Sunnydale, Buffy was dealing with her own problems, she learned that Spike's chip didn't work on her, he could hurt her and she would let him, they started an intense relationship, mostly physical, and Buffy let Spike do whatever he pleased with her, and she didn't want anyone to know.

When Willow returned to Sunnydale, she found that Buffy was invisible, so Willow tested herself, she did research without using any magic at all, by the end of the day she succeeded, finding that the so called evil trio were behind the last attacks.

Short time later, it was Buffy's birthday, the scoobies planned a party for her, Willow was nervous to invite Tara, fearing that she might deny the invitation, in the end Buffy was the one who called her, and also she asked if she could come earlier before the party, so they could talk.

Also the Slayer asked Paige to come earlier when she called to invite the sisters and Leo to the party.

Both witches arrived in the morning, several hours before the party, Buffy guided them to the living room, and she seemed concerned.

"Thanks for coming early," Buffy said sitting across them.

"Is it bad?" asked Tara worried.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Buffy said.

"I was afraid this would happen… What did Willow do now?... Did she hurt anyone?" Tara asked disappointed.

"What?... no! this isn't about Willow, actually she's been doing good, her time in San Francisco helped her a lot," Buffy cleared.

"Good, that's good," Tara said relieved.  
"So what's up?"asked Paige, feeling weird, she didn't know where she and Buffy were standing.

Buffy nervously rubbed her hands, "It's… Spike, he… can hurt me… without his head exploding."

"Oh my God… his chip stopped working?" asked Tara shocked.

"It still works, just… not on me. I need to know about the spell that brought me back… I'd ask Willow but… you Tara were there and Paige knows a lot about magic too… I wanna know…" Buffy didn't meet their eyes, she looked down at her hands over her lap.

"You think it's you?" Tara asked.

Buffy slowly nodded, "I don't know, but I feel… different. There are things that I don't… I think… maybe I came back wrong," she finished weakly.

Tara and Paige were stunned by the thought.

"No, that's n…not… no! You didn't" Tara reassured.

"Tara's right," Paige moved to sit right next to Buffy and made her look at her in the eyes, "there's no chance of that… Buffy, you didn't come back wrong," she said with certainty.

"Can you guys check the spell, see if there's anything that could have… Can you just check?... Please?" she asked almost pleading.

"Sure, we will, I'll check the book of shadows," Paige said.

"I'll go to the magic box to get the book Willow used," Tara added.

"Thank you," Buffy said softly.

Both witches stood up to leave, but Buffy stopped Paige, Tara walked out the door.

"Paige," Buffy started once they were alone, "I'm sorry about what I said… my head wasn't clear that night."

Paige let out a sigh, "I know better… in that state we all say what's really in our minds, but I'm sorry I just left, and sorry I pushed you, I've died before but not as long as you, I should had understand you instead of force you."

"You died? I didn't know," Buffy said shocked.

"Yeah, I bite a poisoned apple and turned into Snow White," Paige said ashamed, "don't make fun of me… and then I traveled to an alter reality and Leo took me to my grave… creepy… but, I didn't have to dig out of it, so at some point I understand you but not completely."

"The thing is, you were right, I wasn't myself… even now I'm not myself… I'm… I'm sleeping with Spike," Buffy admitted as if ashamed, "just to feel."

"There's nothing wrong with that, I mean… if you feel good with him…" Paige said.

"I'm not sure… I do have feelings for him, but it's not love… it's, desire, and… I feel I deserve the pain he causes."

"Has he hurt you?" Paige asked worried.

Silently Buffy showed her some bruises that were already healing. Paige stood up and paced around the living room, "Buffy… that's not healthy for you, emotional and physical… don't let him hurt you, you don't deserve that."

"If I hadn't come back wrong… I wouldn't let him do those things to me," Buffy said with tears in her eyes.

"You didn't come back wrong, maybe what you feel wrong is the guilt of letting yourself feel… and with him from all people," Paige said as she hugged Buffy for comfort.

Buffy said nothing, she just cried and let go all of the pain.


	11. Chapter 11

During Buffy's birthday party, they found themselves trapped inside the house. Before they figured out the real reason of what was happening, decided to use magic to get free.

Willow at first denied to get involved in the process, but Phoebe suggested that she should join her sisters and Tara in the casting of the spell, so that Willow could realize that she can keep control and to understand that magic is necessary in some cases.

Piper also came up with a theory that intrigued Dawn, she thought that Dawn would always be the key, the key was energy to open portals, so maybe Dawn could at some point be able to tap into that energy and create portals; Buffy agreed on letting the sisters work with Dawn on that, only if Dawn agreed, which she did. But to that they needed to get out of the house first.

The spells the witches tried didn't work on the house, however it worked on a sword Buffy got from a demon she thought she killed during patrol, but it turned out that the demon wasn't dead, he got inside his own sword when Buffy stabbed him with it, and the spell released him.

Everyone in the house were stressed, tired and scared, they had been trapped for two nights. On that second night, because of desperation Anya went through Dawn's stuff to find out if the teen was involved in what was happening, all because Dawn implied so. The ex demon found merchandise with the price labels still on, and she recognized many from the magic box. Buffy at first doubted but then realized that it was true because the jacket Dawn gave her, had the security button still on.

At last, talking to Dawn, Buffy figured out that her sister had made a wish to a vengeance demon, Dawn didn't know the counselor she talked to and told her wish was a demon.

Anya knew that her demon friend Halfrek was the one who granted the wish when Dawn described her, so she summoned her.

Halfrek's intention was to let the scoobies and specially Buffy know that Dawn was desperately looking for attention and then leave them there, but her own curse affected her too, she couldn't teleport herself out of the house so she was forced to lift the wish.

As soon as they could, everyone left, except for Buffy and Dawn.

By noon the next day, Paige called Buffy.

"Hey Paige, what's up?" Buffy said through the phone.

"I've been with Tara all morning, we went through all the spell details," Paige said.

"And?..." asked Buffy a little unsure.

"We found something, it's not bad, but we don't know what it is exactly," Paige explained.

Buffy sighed, "can you two come over?"

"All right, see you in a few," they hung up.

Less than a minute later after the call, Paige and Tara orbed to Buffy's house, in the living room.

"So… did I came back wrong?" Buffy asked as she saw them. The three sat down.

"No, we checked, double checked," Tara began.

"Triple checked too," Paige added.

"And there's nothing wrong with you," Tara continued, "but you are… different, on a molecular state, nothing important, you're still the same old Buffy with brand new molecules, but there was something else… There's magic in you."

"Like… leftovers from the spell?" Buffy asked, listening carefully to them.

"Inside you," Paige said, "you have powers, others than your slayer ones, you are a magical being, but that magic hasn't manifested yet, and it's probably it never will, but we can't identify what it is."

"Magic?" Buffy said softly, "then nothing wrong?... that means all my decisions had been… on my free will? I'm not under any influence of a dark power or anything?"

"No, you're still you," Tara said with a smile.

Buffy sat there motionless, thinking about Spike and everything they've done, she always justified herself by thinking she wasn't really her, but now the weight of her actions was starting to feel heavier all of a sudden.

During the next week Dawn had been going to the Magic box to work for free in compensation for stealing. And when she wasn't there, Leo or Paige orbed her to San Francisco to learn more about the key and if it's possible to control the energy.

By the end of that week, Buffy asked Leo, who was there to orb Dawn, to take her too to the manor.

While Dawn was with Piper and Phoebe learning meditation to channel her inner energy, Paige and Buffy were out, the Slayer had the habit of going out to patrol at night wherever she was.

"I can't imagine Riley married… he was so into you and it wasn't a long time," Paige said to Buffy who was walking beside her. The blond told her about Riley's return to Sunnydale with her wife and looking for a demon dealer who turned out to be Spike.

"It was a shock, but the truth is, I'm happy for him, for both of them, they make a good couple."

"And, what about Spike?"

"For now I want to stay away from him, I think it'll be the best for the two of us, give us some space from this… weird… whatevership we have… also I'll get a clearer perspective of what I feel for him… would it be ok if I decide to stay with him?" Buffy asked the last part considering the possibility if indeed she discovered had feelings for Spike.

"Whatever you decide, you have my support, but take your time to decide, don't rush it, and until you are sure of what you want… what both of you want, then make the move."

They walked in silence after that, but suddenly Buffy pushed Paige out of the way of an upcoming energy ball.

"I keep forgetting that your demons have tricks," the Slayer said helping Paige up.

"Energy ball" Paige called and the second energy ball orbed back to the demon vanquishing him, "got some of my own too."

"Comes in handy," Buffy said, "there's more," she said looking at other three who just shimmered in.

Buffy and Paige took cover from the thrown energy balls, "orb us behind them," Buffy commanded.

Paige took her hand and did what asked, as soon as they were behind the demons Buffy knocked them easily, "the down side about fancy powers, makes them clumsy to fight."

"No complains here," Paige said and both started to walk away, but none of them saw a darklighter orbing behind them several feet from them. His crossbow materialized in his arms and took aim.

At the last second Buffy sensed him and turn around, but it was late, the arrow hit Paige in the back, and due to the speed the arrow traveled across her body and got out from her stomach and hit a post nearby.

Full of adrenaline, Buffy took the bloodied arrow from the post, she felt a little dizzy but put the feeling aside, full of anger she threw the arrow back to where it came from, with all of her Slayer strength. The darklighter was reloading his crossbow and never saw the approaching arrow, it hit right in his heart, with a final scream he was vanquished.

"Oh God, please hang on," Buffy said kneeling next to Paige, she was lying facing to the floor, breathing heavily. Gently Buffy turned her around and placed her friend's head on her lap for support.

Buffy put her hand over Paige's wound in an attempt to stop the pouring blood, "stay with me, don't close your eyes… I'll get some help," she said between sobs, she planned to carry Paige and run as fast as possible to a hospital, but first she wanted to stop the bleeding,

Paige was barely conscious, she tried to call Leo but she didn't have the strength to mutter any word and above it, the pain was so intense, she just hoped that Leo could sense her soon and orb to them.

Buffy placed both hands on the wound and was desperately trying to control the flow of blood. She felt how Paige was growing weaker and weaker and in her mind wished she could transfer her slayer healing to Paige somehow.

Suddenly Buffy's hands started to glow with a golden light.


	12. Chapter 12

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Buffy stared in awe at her glowing hands "what the heck?" she muttered to herself, her first instinct was to pull her hands away, but as she saw that Paige's wound was healing she didn't move.

Paige slowly opened her eyes expecting to see Leo, her expression imitated Buffy's shocked one once Paige saw who her healer was.

"How do I stop this?" asked Buffy referring to her still glowing hands, relieved to see her friend awake.

Paige tried to lean over to sit but still she had the wound in her back, Buffy saw that and kept her hands in the same spot, afraid that if she moved them the glow would fade. After a few seconds the whole wound was healed and Buffy's hands returned to normal, "guess it stops on its own when it's done healing," Paige said, thinking that she's never talked deeply with Leo about all the details on whitelighter powers, "thank you," she added fully grateful.

"Don't mention it," Buffy answered still impressed, "anyone would had done the same... only, not really, what was that?"

Paige smiled and rose to her feet, offering her hand to Buffy to stand up too, "looks like we now know what kind of magical being you are."

Buffy just stared, Paige orbed the two of them to the manor.

"Leo!" Paige called once they orbed in the living room, Buffy sat down staring at her hands and moving them in different ways trying to make them glow or something. Piper came from the kitchen after hearing her sister's voice.

"Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked her.

"She and Phoebe are still in the attic, I came down to feed Wyatt," Piper answered.

Leo orbed in, "Paige are you okay?" he said looking around and then frowned when he saw everything was ok, "I sensed you were in trouble, I orbed to where I sensed you were but didn't find you," he explained.

"A darklighter's arrow hit me."

"Are you okay?" Piper asked full of concern, immediately searching for any wounds.

"Buffy healed me," Paige said, "seems like she's a whitelighter."

Phoebe and Dawn came downstairs when Piper called them, Paige explained them all about how she and Tara went on with every detail from the resurrection spell and finding something magical about Buffy.

"Leo, why don't you go to the Eleders and ask them about this," Piper said, Leo orbed out.

"Can I orb like you?" Buffy asked looking at Paige, now sounding excited about the idea.

"Don't rush it, I still can't heal... it takes my half and your half to make a full whitelighter," Paige joked.

Buffy nodded lightly, and then turned to Dawn, "how was meditation, can you control your keyness?"

"Actually I think I can," said Dawn excited, "I feel something... I just can't seem to reach it yet, but, I feel something inside me, it's great."

"Dawn is a quick learner," Piper said smiling at the teen.

The Summers and Halliwell sisters were talking about magic and other random things for almost half an hour when Leo finally came back, his face was neutral.

"So? good news or bad news?" Piper asked her husband.

"It depends on how you see it," he answered and turned to look at Buffy, "because of all the good you've done, your destiny was to come back as a whitelighter -"

"Come back? I would had been alive again even without the spell?" Buffy interrupted, not thrilled by the idea.

"Yes, but not in this time, you were supposed to become a whitelighter for the next generation, and not here, becoming a whitelighter is a fresh start, you keep your memories of your former life but you don't continue with it, you start a new life," he said taking a quick glance at Piper, "you meet new friends, family even, but there's no big chances on ever seeing your former life's family... So even if you were meant to come back to life, it wouldn't had been here and now."

"So what does that mean... I have two destinies?... slayer and whitelighter?"

"Not really, you aren't a full whitelighter, you were brought back before time, so it's possible that you don't have all the powers, I can't tell which ones you have or not."

"How can I know? I didn't even know I had this glowy thingie."

"Seeing Paige in danger triggered it, and well, one of the Slayer's power is a healing one so that's the link to your whitelighter powers."

"Neat," Buffy said, "comes in handy in my line of work."

"That's not all," Leo said and turned to Paige, "Buffy is your charge now," he said with a smile, "the Elders know you're the best to be her whitelighter because since you two met you've always guided each other."

Paige moved from her place and sat next to Buffy and placed her arm around Buffy's shoulders, "see? now you have to listen to me and do what I say."

"I'm doomed," joked Buffy resting her head on Paige's shoulder.

During the next days Buffy and Dawn kept meeting with the Halliwells, sometimes they were orbed to San Francisco and some others the Charmed ones orbed to Sunnydale. By weekend they all were in Sunnydale because it was the day of Xander and Anya's wedding.

The Halliwells were with the rest of the guests, they sat there waiting for the ceremony to begin, and they knew something was up because Buffy started to stall, she even did some juggling.

"Demon attack?" mouthed Paige to Buffy, the juggling slayer denied with her head.

Then they all heard Anya said, "What do you mean Xander's missing?!" in a desperate tone.

Short time later everyone began to fight, it was Xander's family against Anya's demon friends.

The Halliwells moved away from the fights, Tara got trapped between the mass of people, Willow managed to pull her away.

Anya moved around the fighters asking for Xander, then she saw an old man she knew Xander was talking to the last time anybody saw him. The old man morphed into a demon, Anya confronts him, "tell me what you did with Xander. What are you?"

"You did this, you brought this on, I've waited a long time for this, Anyanka," the demon said in a deep creepy voice.

"Who are you?" asked Anya tearful.

"Remember Chicago? South Side, 1914?" the demon said, and got annoyed at Anya's blank stare, "Stewart Burns. Philanderer! You'd think you'd remember, I remember you, but then again, you ruined my life."

"You were a ... I punished you," Anya remembered.

"That's right. Some hussy I'd been taking around summons you, next thing I know, I look like this and I'm being tortured in another dimension."

"I forgot."

"Well, I didn't," the demon hit Anya across the face. Across the room from the stage Buffy saw this and rushed to help Anya.

The demon revealed he showed Xander a fake future with her, a hell version of their future together.

Piper froze all of the guests, leaving only her sisters, husband and scoobies unfrozen.

Xander showed up at the last minute and helped to fight the demon, and the Halliwells did a spell to hide the mess caused for all the fights. When Piper unfroze everyone they kept fighting until Anya stopped them.

Xander took a moment to talk to Anya in private.

"You know, it's bad luck to see me in my dress," Anya said with a little smile, Xander looked at her saying nothing, he still seemed shocked, "hey. It's okay. It's all over now, he's dead, and it was just smoke and mirrors," Anya continued.

"I know."

"So ... we're ready now. Let's get married," Anya said and turn to leave but Xander stopped her.

"I... I'm not... I'm not ready... I can't, Ahn, I'm sorry," Xander said.

"But it wasn't real. What he showed you, it wasn't real," Anya said teary.

"I know it wasn't real. But it could be."

"What was it? Was it about me? 'Cause he wanted you to hate me, Xander."

"It wasn't you, it wasn't you I was hating... I had these thoughts, and ... fears before this... Maybe we just went too fast."

"Look, everybody has thoughts. It's natural, it doesn't mean that, that getting married is wrong."

"I know, I know..."

"Look, you're just shaken up, okay? You just calm down and we'll start over, okay?" Anya said triying not to lose control.

Xander looked over at the main room where his parents were yelling at each other, "we can't start over. If this is a mistake, it's forever, and ... I don't want to hurt you. Not that way," Xander said, tears in his eyes, "I', sorry, I am so sorry."

Anya cried harder, slowly turned around and walked away. Xander watched her for a moment before walking outside.

Anya walked down the aisle, dazed, her face streaked with tears. All of the guests stare in dismay. She stopped at the other end of the aisle and just stood there, lost in thought.

Later, Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Tara, Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo were in the living room of Buffy's house. Piper and Buffy came out of the kitchen carrying trays with mugs and cookies.

"Should we do something for her?" Dawn asked as she took a mug, "anything?"

"She wants to be alone. That's what she wants," Willow said sadly.

"They were happy... weren't they?" Phoebe said.

"They were... I know they were. They were supposed to be my light at the end of the tunnel. I guess they were a train," Buffy replied.

"I feel like I should be hating Xander, but I can't, I just hope he's okay," Willow said feeling bad for her childhood friend.

"I wonder where he is," Leo said.

"Can't you do that sense thing? feel where he is?" Buffy asked him.

"No, it only works with charges," Leo explained.

"Maybe we could scry for him," Paige suggested.

"And then what... I'm not sure what we could say to him if we see him," Willow said.

"The two of them need time, this is something they have to fix by themselves, you just have to support them when they both need it... no one is the bad guy here," Leo said, the rest nodded at him.

"I just hope none of them do something stupid," Buffy said fearing what decisions they could make in their current state.

Someplace else, Anya, still wearing her wedding dress, sat on the floor, dried tears all over her face. D'hoffryn in there with her.

"Are you okay?" the demon asked.

Anya shook her head, "I'm tired... of crying, I'm just so tired, D'Hoffryn."

D'hoffryn sighed, "oh, Anyanka. I'm sorry... But you let him domesticate you. When you were a vengeance demon, you were powerful, at the top of your game. You crushed men like him," he said but Anya didn't react, "it's time you got back to what you do best ... don't you think?" he told her.

Anya finally lifted her face up to look at him. Her expression blank. After a beat, she slowly nodded her head, D'hoffryn smiled at her and offered his hand so she could stand up, "something's going to rise here on the Hellmouth, is better to be on this side, welcome back... Anyanka."


	13. Chapter 13

Buffy was alone in her living room, sitting on the couch staring at a picture of Hank, Joyce and herself from when she was a child.

Willow walked in from the dining room followed by Paige.

"Buffy, good news. we found the demon, fits your description and symptoms perfectly. Look, is this it?" Willow asked showing her a printed picture of said demon. Buffy nodded lightly at it.

"See? It's gonna be okay. Its pokey stinger carries an antidote to its own poison," Willow said with a huge smile.

Buffy seemed preoccupied, lost in thoughts, she turned to look at Willow and for the first time noticed Paige was there, "Paige, what are you doing here?" she asked and seemed a little bit more alert, "is everything ok? Your sisters are fine?"

Paige sat right next to her, "everything's fine, you're my charge remember? I felt something was… off… with you and orbed. Willow and Xander told me about the hallucinations you're having."

"I feel so lost," Buffy told her two best friends.

"I know you're confused, but it's just that crazy juice inside you," Willow said as she sat on the arm of the couch so Buffy could be between herself and Paige.

"It's more," Buffy answered, "even before the demon, I've been so… detached."

"You've been adapting," Paige tried to reassure her.

"But it's been so long... And every day I try to snap out of it. To figure out why I'm like that. Well... maybe this is why," Buffy said.

"No," Willow cut her off, "Buffy, you're not in an institution, you've never been in an institution," Willow said firmly.

Buffy turned away, she seemed as if she was going to say something but nothing came out, she turned to look at Paige.

"She has," Paige said softly.

"What?" Asked Willow shocked.

Buffy took a moment, preparing to confess, but she quietly started to cry at the memory, she nodded to Paige, silently asking her to tell Willow.

Paige nodded back and sighed, "it was shortly before we met," she started to explain, "when Merrick told her about her destiny, Buffy didn't believe him, but when she saw her first vampires…"

"I got so scared," said Buffy softly between tears, "I told my parents about it, they freaked… and sent me to a clinic."

"They thought there was something wrong with her," Paige added.

Willow was too shocked, "you never said anything."

"It's something I don't like talking about… I've only talked to Paige about it. I was there a couple of weeks, when I stopped talking about vampires they let me go and eventually my parents just… forgot," Buffy wiped fresh tears.

Willow was affected by the new revelation, "God, that's horrible."

"What if I never left? What if I'm still in that clinic?" Buffy said finally breaking.

"You know that's not true, none of that's real," Paige told her.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, but it's in the past, you have to trust us, we're gonna get you that antidote," Willow said, Buffy wanted to believe them, but she wasn't sure about anything.

A couple of hours later, Xander and Spike arrived with the demon. The two of them along with Willow and Paige managed to chain him in the basement.

Paige stroke him down with a fork in his forearm, his stinger popped out in reaction. Willow with a gloved hand broke it.

All night, Willow and Paige worked on the antidote and finally early in the morning they had it ready, both headed to Buffy's room to give it to her, and it seemed that Buffy didn't sleep all night. She was staring blankly to nothing in particular.

Willow handed her the mug, "when it's cooled, drink it all and everything should go back to normal."

Buffy stared at the mug, no expression in her face.

"It might take a little while to kick in… and we can't guarantee it'll taste good but… medicine always tastes funny." Paige added.

"Thank you, both of you, you never stop coming through." Buffy said not looking away from the mug.

Spike walked in, he stood all night keeping an eye on the demon.

"How is she?" he asked, Buffy reacted to him a little, but then spaced out again.

"Make sure she drinks that. I want to let Dawn know everything's going to be okay," Willow said and left the room.

Spike walked closer to the bed, Buffy was fighting to gather focus.

"You need to leave me alone, you're not a part of my life..." Buffy told him.

Spike got irritated by that, "Fine, then. But I hope you don't think this antidote's gonna rid you of that nasty martyrdom. See, I figured it out, luv. You can't help yourself. You're not drawn to the dark like I thought. You're addicted to the misery."

Buffy didn't react to that in any way, she was too tired, and she no longer cared anything.

Paige however did care, "Spike, this is not the best time to talk to her about you two, even without the demon's poison she was confused."

Spike calmed down a bit, days before Buffy had told him that only Paige and Tara knew what was happening between him and Buffy, and he respected Buffy's wish to not let anyone else know, but his patience was ending.

"But that doesn't take away the fact that because of that misery she won't tell her other pals about us," he said to Paige and then turned to look at Buffy, "might actually have to be happy if you did. They'd either understand and help, God forbid, or drive you out where you can finally be at peace in the dark, with me. Either way you'd be better off. But you're too twisted for that."

"Don't push her Spike," Paige warned him. Buffy stared at Spike, listening, considering.

Spike continued, "let yourself live already. Stop with the bloody hero trip for a sec. We'll all be the better for it… 'Cause I'm done with it. You either tell your friends about us... or I will."

"Okay mister, you're not helping here," Paige gently pushed him out of the bedroom, once outside Paige closed the door behind her, "I understand you have issues, and you need to talk about it, but now it's not the time," the charmed one told Spike.

"It's so bloody frustrating, it's like I have her but the truth is I'm not even close," he said before walking away.

After a beat, Paige walked back into Buffy's room, the Slayer seemed spaced out, but the mug in her hands was empty.

Paige never saw the antidote spilled in the garbage can.

"I don't wanna go back there," Buffy whispered, "I wanna be healthy again," she closed her eyes as if in concentration.

"And you will," Paige said, just relax and let the antidote make effect," she gently pushed Buffy down so she could lie down on her bed, "I'll be downstairs with Willow, if you need anything just call us." Paige left the room, and didn't hear Buffy ask, "what do I need to do?"

In the Slayer's mind, she was talking to the doctor in her hallucination, not to Paige, she wanted to stay in that alter world.

"Mom... please, help me, I wanna go home with dad and you." Buffy pleaded Joyce who was in the room with Hank and the doctor.

"I know honey, but you have to get better first," Joyce talked in a sweet tone, glad that Buffy seemed lucid.

"It's not gonna be easy, Buffy. You have to take it one step at a time," the doctor said, "you have to start ridding your mind of the things that support your hallucinations. You understand? There's things in that world that you cling to. For  
your delusion they're safeholds, I'm talking about the things you want there, Buffy. What keeps you going back."

Buffy thought for a beat, then understood, "my friends."

"That's right" the doctor nodded, "last summer, when you had a momentary awakening, you even could go out and visit your friend Paige, but then your friends from that unreal world pulled you back in."

Buffy looked away with sudden apprehension.

"Buffy, they're not really your friends," Joyce said, "they're just tricks, keeping you from getting healthy."

"You have to do whatever it takes to convince yourself of that," the doctor added, "whatever it takes."

Buffy focused and saw herself back in her bed in her room at Sunnydale, she stood up and walked downstairs, Willow came out of the dining room and almost collided with her, "Buffy, didn't see you there, I was just coming to check on you, you feeling better? Did the antidote work?"

Buffy nodded, "I'm... still pretty dazed, but better."

"No more Cookoo's Nest?" Willow asked, and Paige came from the kitchen.

Buffy shook her head.

"We still got the big bad all tranq'd out down in the basement, in case it didn't work and we need more parts," Willow explained.

Buffy forced a smile, both Paige and Willow noticed.

"It'll be nice to see you all better," Willow said with sympathy.

Buffy was touched by her friend's concern, and that made things harder.

"Thanks," Buffy simply said.

"Do you wanna eat something? You've barely eaten," Paige said, also full of concern.

"We can make you some food," Willow said anxious to help, "something big with energy to help clear your noggin."

Buffy slowly nodded, Willow and Paige looped arms with Buffy and guided her back to the kitchen.

Once there, Buffy sat by the isle in the middle while Paige grabbed some dishes and Willow checked the fridge. The slayer was trying to block her emotions, she didn't want to harm them, but she knew that was her only choice to go back to where things seemed better and normal. She was thinking on how to get rid of them even if she didn't even dare to hurt them, then a noise from the basement was her answer. She vaguely remembered Willow just said that the demon was still there.

"You okay?" Paige asked when she saw sorrow on Buffy's expression.

"Forgive me," Buffy whispered and punched Paige in the face, not with her full slayer strength but just enough to knock her down.

"Paige!" Willow called alarmed when she saw her fall to the floor and rushed to her, but before she could reach her Buffy held her, "I'm sorry Will," she said and with a free hand she yanked the phone wire and managed to tie Willow's hands to her back.

Buffy carried Willow downstairs to the basement and placed her on the floor not so far away from the still tied up demon. She went back up to the kitchen and carried Paige too, she didn't bothered to tie her up because she knew that if the charmed one woke up tied she would just orb to freedom, the slayer just hoped Paige would stay knocked out longer.

Then, Buffy went back upstairs, now after Dawn who was in her room getting ready to go out to stay with a friend. Dawn was harder to get than Willow or Paige, but finally Buffy was able to tied her sister up and took it to the basement as well.

Buffy was looking for the key to unlock the demon's chains, she knew she could easily break the lock, but she was stalling, a part of her didn't want to do it. but her search got interrupted when she heard someone entering the house.

"Hello? I'm back. Clean and with, the better smell now." Xander's voice echoed in the apparently emtpy house.

Buffy went up to the kitchen, and silently waited for Xander to find her there, she sensed when her friend entered the kitchen, she heard him talking about ditching the demon, and ramble something about Spike but she wasn't paying much atttention, she just waited for him to got closer, and when he was close enough, she hit him with a frying pan.

Xander tried to free himself from Buffy's grip but was no match, in no time he ended up in the basement with the rest.

Slowly, pushing regret away Buffy freed the demon and she stood by the corner below the stairs, looking, trying to block any emotions.

Xander was tied to a post, he kicked the demon but that only pissed him off, Paige woke up and as soon as she saw the demon she started to orb things to him.

To everyone's relief, Tara got there, and with magic she untied everyone. The demon dangerosly made his way to Paige, his broken stinger popped out of his arm and in one quick swing he got Paige in the arm.

Buffy inside her delution has having a hard time watching her friends and family being under attack. Her parents were pep talking to her.

"No! Let me go!" they heard a voice coming from the hall. Buffy recognized it; weak and ina daze Buffy walked out of her room, ignoring the doctor and her parents. Down the hall she saw a couple of interns trying to calm a woman.

"I said let me go!" the woman yelled.

"Paige!" Buffy called when be got a better look at the woman, she as sure she heard her voice, but she wasn't sure why.

Paige reacted to her, and with newfound determination she pushed the interns away and ran to her friend.

Buffy guided Paige to her room where Joyce, Hank and the doctor were waiting.

"Mrs. Summers..." Paige said in awe when she was in front of Joyce.

"Sweety, everyting is going to be okay, you and Buffy will get better," Joyce said in a tender tone.

"It's so sad that their bond pulled Paige into the same state as Buffy, I hoped it would be the other way around," Hank spoke quietly to the doctor.

Buffy was in and out, for moments lost in the Sunnydale world, "Willow!" She said full of concern when she saw the demon hit the red haired.

"Buffy? Buffy! Buffy, fight it. You're too good to give in, you can beat this thing. Be strong, baby, ok?" Joyce said and Buffy began to cry,

"Buffy, we have to get out of here... You know what's right," Paige said, she was starting to freak out with all what was happening.

"I know you're afraid. I know the world feels like a hard place sometimes, but you've got people who love you, both of you," Joyce said to both young women, and turned her attention back to Buffy, "your dad and I, we have all the faith in the world in you. We'll always be with you.

Paige was hurt by this, she wondered if maybe in this world her parents would still be alive, but Joyce cleared her doubts, "Paige honey, you know we care about you as much as we care about Buffy, I know we can't ever replace your parents, but you aren't alone, we are here for you."

Paige was touched by this, now she understood why it was hard for Buffy to give up this twisted reality, it offered the chance to be normal.

"She's right Paige," a woman said from the door, "you're not alone anymore, you have friends and sisters who love you as much as you love them."

Paige stared at the woman she's never seen but there was something familiar in her.

"Sorry miss, visit hours are over, only family members are allowed," the doctor said as she started to usher the woman out of the room, but she gently pushed him away and walked over to Paige and put her arm around her shoulders, Paige immediately felt safe and protected.

"I know," said the woman, "I'm her sister."

"Prue?" asked Paige softly.

"Yes," she said with a smile.

"This isn't real, is it" asked Paige confused.

"It is... But it's not the reality either of you should be in, at least not yet."

"What does that mean?" Paige asked.

"This is a world with no demons, no prophecies, no magic... just peace... paradise."

"Afterlife," Paige replied in a whisper.

"Sort of," Prue said still with a smile, "but you don't find this peaceful because it's not your time to be here... And definitely not in here," she said pointing around at the clinic room.

Paige thought about that, still she was confused, but in spite of all, she didn't want to waste the opportunity to hug her oldest sister she never had the chance to meet, "thank you for coming Prue," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Take care of our sisters," Prue said teary as well. Paige nodded.

Joyce was still trying to help Buffy, she knew her words were reaching her daughter, "You've got ... a world of strength in your heart. I know you do. You just have to find it again. Believe in yourself," she whispered the last part and stroke her daughter's hair.

Buffy stopped crying, with determination she met her mother's gaze, "You're right. Thank you."

Both smile, but Buffy's is a sad smile, "goodbye."

And with that she drifted back to her own world. Paige knew it was her time to go back too, with a last glance at her oldest sister eyes, she silently thanked her and let herself go. Prue gently guided her non responsive sister to Buffy's empty bed and walked away, she just heard the doctor said to Joyce "I'm sorry, there's no reaction at all, I'm afraid we lost her."

Hank hugged Joyce and she cried. Prue walked down the hall to to the clinic's door, "we'll meet again someday," she whispered as she left the installations. Outside Andy, Patty and Penny were waiting for her.


	14. Chapter 14

_Someone asked if Hank was dead, and actually I didn't realize it was implied :P so I'll mention that in this chapter. Thank you for notice it._

"You sure that was Prue? And not just part of the hallucination?" asked Piper after Piper told her sisters what happened in Sunnydale.

"It wasn't a hallucination, it was all real, and I'm certain that was Prue… that was our sister, I felt it. The moment she entered the room I felt loved and protected," Paige finished with a smile at the memory of the feelings, "there's no way I could feel that about a stranger."

"But you said that Buffy was almost convinced to leave reality and go back to that imaginary world, maybe it was going to happen to you too, you think you saw or felt what you wanted to," Phoebe said, trying to discard any theory before getting excited about the fact that Prue still watched over them.

"Willow and I researched about the demon, that's how we were able to make the antidote, and, what the demon does is not create hallucination… what his poison does is make you sensitive of other worlds around, that's why Buffy saw two realities at the same time, she was able to see two parallel worlds, I'm pretty sure that was some sort of world beyond life… Buffy said that the doctor mentioned she was there and then her friends pulled her back here."

The three sat in their living room in silence for a while, before each going to their room to call it a night.

The next couple of weeks , a lot happened in Sunnydale, after seeing her parents and knowing Paige saw Prue, Buffy asked Willow to research about Hank whereabouts, she hadn't seen or heard about him in a long time, but she never stopped to think about why, and seeing him next to persons who passed away brought questions.

Willow did her thing, she looked for him on the web, and after not getting much information other than his work life, she finally found something about him from a newspaper in Spain, she translated it and showed it to Buffy, in there it was said that Hank passed away last year from a heart attack.

When Buffy read the translated text she didn't show any emotion, she was shocked, after all, she did care about his father, but she was more used to him not being in her life than hearing about him, "so that's why I never found him when mom passed away," was all she commented.

"Are you okay?" asked Willow emphatically.

"Yeah, I didn't expect this but, it doesn't hurt as it's supposed to… last time I saw him was two years ago, and before that we weren't as close as we used to when I was younger."

"Are you going to tell Dawn?"

Buffy thought for a minute, "they never really met, but I guess she has to know."

Willow nodded in agreement.

The same day they found out about Hank, Anya returned, none had heard or seen her since the wedding, she seemed like her normal self, but she was still hurt.

Willow and Tara were starting to date again, Willow told her that she had been hanging out with the Halliwells, mostly with Phoebe to talk about her abuse in magic and she was doing really good now. Anya found them during their date, both were glad to see her but they didn't know that Anya became a demon again and was looking forward for either of them wish something against Xander.

Anya tried the same with Buffy, and just when the slayer was about to accidentally wish for something Xander arrived and interrupted.

Looking for someone to talk to who wasn't Xander's friend at all, she ended up talking to Spike, who went to the Magic box to find something to stop feeling for Buffy. The two of them decided to use a more normal way to deal with their issues, they drank a bottle of whiskey and let go of any inhibitions. With the effect of the alcohol and the pain they were feeling they started kissing in a way to move on and one thing led to another.

They started to remove their clothes, trusting that they were alone in a locked up Magic box, but what they didn't know was that the so called evil trio planted a camera there, along with other places the scoobies usually were at.

On the Summers's house, Buffy and Xander had found earlier one of said hidden cameras, and Willow was trying to find out where the signal led to. It took her a couple of hours but she found the correct frequency of the camera and was able to log into all the different hidden cameras. Willow, Xander, Buffy and Dawn were shocked to see that they've been watched, at campus, at Xander's construction site, the house; Willow was going through all the cameras and got to the one in the Magic Box, and to everyone's surprise, it was filming Anya and Spike over the table.

Buffy was visibly hurt by seeing Spike like that with Anya, and Xander was blind by jealousy, in silence and with determination, he grabbed an axe from Buffy's weapon chest and walked straight to the magic shop, some minutes after that Buffy went after him.

By the time Xander got to the shop, Spike and Anya were putting their clothes back on, and just as Spike walked out the door, Xander swung the axe aiming to his neck. The vampire's speed and reflexes helped him, he dodged the axe but due to his chip in the brain, he wasn't able to fight back.

When Buffy reached them, Anya was out too, she and Xander were arguing about why she did what she just did, and Spike took the opportunity to reveal that he and Buffy had been doing the same for months.

Xander was upset, he left, Buffy was mad at Spike. And above all, Xander and Buffy weren't as stable in their friendship after this.

The next night, Buffy had called Paige, to talk to her about what happened, and also Paige wanted to talk to her about some dreams she had been having.

Both were to patrol and they only found one vampire, but he got a lucky kick and by the time Buffy dusted him, he kicked her hard and she fell back onto a gravestone, by the force of the impact the stone broke and Buffy hurt her back. Paige helped her to her feet and orbed home.

Once home, Paige told her about her dreams.

"Do you think they mean anything?" Buffy asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me, you're the expert here with cryptic prophecy dreams," Paige said, "first I didn't pay much attention to it but I've been having them every time I sleep."

"What do dream about?"

"It's all vague… I see a lot of fire, and something coming out from underground, and then I feel the heat rising and… something about an urn, and smoke coming out of it… the urn seems ancient and has some greek letters on it, but I can't get a better view at it so I don't know what those letters mean."

"Seems like something's coming, your dreams could be a warning, maybe we should call Giles… ask him about any greek urns…what time is it in England?"

Buffy called him and Paige told him her dreams, he said a couple of –Dear lord- and said he would research immediately and contact them as soon as he had some information.

Buffy could tell that Paige was tired, she had some black circles under her eyes so she offered her friend to take a nap in her room while she took a shower. Without second thought Paige laid over Buffy's bed and closed her eyes, hoping to get some sleep.

Buffy walked into the bathroom and opened the water to fill the tub. Her back still hurt her and she couldn't move freely because of the pain. "Are you hurt?" came a male's voice from the bathroom's door, Buffy was startled by it, she didn't heard or feel anyone approaching, and seeing it was Spike she was slightly frustrated, she didn't want to deal with him at the moment, "You're not moving so well," Spike said.

"Get out," Buffy said not looking at him.

"We have to talk," he said as he closed the door.

"You spoke, I listened, now leave."

"I'm sorry, not that it matters anymore, but I needed you to know that."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you."

"Then you might want to try the not sleeping with my friends.

"I didn't go to Anya for that. I was looking for a spell."

"You were going to use a spell on me?" Buffy asked shocked.

"It wasn't for you!" Spike said exasperated, "I wanted something, anything to make these feelings stop!" he took his time to calm down, "you should have let him kill me," he pointed out.

"I couldn't do that."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"Because you love me," Spike said, moving toward the tub closer to her.

"I have feelings for you, I do… But it's not love. I could never trust you enough for it to be love." Buffy pointed out.

Spike snorts, "trust is for old marrieds Buffy, great love is wild and passionate and dangerous, it burns and consumes."

"Until there's nothing left!" Buffy cut him, "love like that doesn't last.

"I know you feel like I do, you don't have to hide it anymore," Spike said and walked towards her, "let yourself feel it," he put his hands on her waist and pulled her toward him, she struggled. Spike tried to kiss her, Buffy was trying to push him away, Spike pulled Buffy's robe and the sound of fabric ripping apart could be heard.

She lost her balance and fell backward toward the tub, she tried to held from the shower curtain but it ripped and Buffy fell down hitting her already injured back against the side of the tub.

She tried to call for Paige but all that came out was a groan of pain. Spike as if possessed, got on top of her and held her down. He tried to force her to kiss him but she continued to attempt to get him off of him, the pain and fear temporary overwhelmed her and she couldn't control her strength, on normal circumstances she could had easily fight him but now she was afraid.

"Let it go, let yourself love me," Spike said with a feral glance, ignoring her when she asks him to stop. Spike pulled at her robe. Panicked, Buffy rolled over her stomach and tried to pull herself towards the door, but Spike held her from the ankle and soon is on top of her again, his expression is wild and determined.

"I know you felt it… when I was inside you," Spike said, determined to make her kiss him, he kept on pulling her robe and he broke it more.

Buffy began to cry and struggled harder, this time making more noise and Paige could hear something was going on, quickly she stood up and headed to the bathroom across the hall, she opened the door just in time when Buffy yelled, "stop!" and regaining her strength she pushed him backwards, he crashed into the sink and the wall.

Paige's eyes went wide by what she saw, immediately she went to Buffy's side and helped her up. Full of anger, pain and fear, Buffy wasn't able to keep her balance so she held on tight to Paige but her eyes glued to Spike, "ask me again why I could never love you!" she screamed at him, tears running down her face, Spike looked like he just realized what he was doing, he was about to apologize but Buffy didn't let him speak," because I stopped you!... something I should have done a long time ago."

"I'm so sorry… I didn't… I," Spike was shaking, his look totally different now, back to normal.

"How could you do this to her!" said Paige full of anger, "you claim to love her… and I believed you did!"

"But… I … I do," Spike replied softly, regret all over his face.

"Just go, please," Paige asked calmer now.

"Buffy… please, look at me," Spike said to Buffy.

"Now! Or I'll orb you to where it's not nighttime," Paige threatened.

Spike lingered for a few seconds before walking out. Buffy moved away from him as he walked through the door. She stared into space speechless, slowly she sank to the floor and let tears fall freely, but her expression was blank. Paige just sat next to her in silence and Buffy leaned on her shoulder, her hands grabbing tightly close the robe.

They sat there for almost half an hour and then Xander barged into the bathroom, "you call this not seeing Spike anymore?" he said angry holding Spike's leather coat. And he has blood on his face.

"Don't you knock?" Paige snorted pointing around as if making a point of where they were at.

Xander calmed down a little realizing that it was inappropriate walking into her friend's bathroom unannounced. And a second later he noticed the scene, Buffy with dried tears and bruised. Immediately he knew Spike did something to her. He was about to go and look for him but Buffy stopped him. There was no time of saying anything, Willow rushed through the front door and ran upstairs, seeing Xander she walked to the bathroom's door claiming she had found something. Buffy immediately changed her mood and was all business, trying to dismiss her condition and avoid any questions she wasn't ready to answer yet.

What Willow found out, was information that the trio kept in cds that Buffy got earlier that day when she went to the house they were hiding at. And with that information they were able to know what the Trio's plan was, they wanted to steal from a bank. But now the threat was that the trio's leader, Warren, got some mystical orbs that made him supernaturally strong, Xander found that out the hard way when he faced Warren at the Bronze and he was knocked out easily in one punch.

Buffy went to stop the trio, Paige orbed to San Francisco to get her sisters. Soon the four were at where the Trio planned to commit their crime. Warren with his new strength, rolled a security bank truck to the side and ripped the armored door effortlessly.

The Slayer faced him but he was stronger than her, he easily got the upper hand, the only thing that was in Buffy's favor was that Warren wasn't a good fighter so his movements were clumsy.

Close nearby, the three Halliwell sisters started chanting, "the power of three will set us free," repeating over and over again, with this a magical force field protected Buffy, Warren punched hard but his fists were stopped by the invisible magical barrier. He walked threatening towards the sisters, determined to stop them, but Buffy pulled him back before he could get closer. She kicked him hard and he was thrown some feet backwards. Buffy was getting ready for his counterattack when to everybody's surprise, Jonathan jumped on her back pretending to attack her, but he really wanted to help, "his orbs, smash his orbs," he whispered to Buffy's ear before she pushed him off of her.

Warren took the opportunity to get closer to Buffy and kicked her hard, she fell to the ground, Warren stood above her and prepared himself to throw one final punch, as he rose his fist, his jacket uncovered the mystical orbs, and just then Buffy understood what Jonathan meant, in one fast movement she yanked the orbs off his belt and smashed them against the floor, Warren immediately lost his strength.

But he still didn't give up, he took of his jacket to reveal a jetpack on his back, he activated it and flew away. Buffy and the Charmed ones just stared, almost laughing if it weren't for the fact that he was getting away.

Andrew took off his jacket as well, and planned to fly after Warren but as he knocked himself off when he crashed with a roof that was over him. Jonathan didn't try anything because he didn't have a jetpack, he knew that his so called friends betrayed him and were meaning to leave him behind.

Piper called the police from her cell phone, and in a matter of minutes, Andrew and Jonathan were arrested.

Next morning, Buffy was looking for more hidden cameras in her backyard, Willow and Tara were upstairs in Willow's room finally together again.

Xander arrived, he wanted to talk to Buffy and make amends. They sat down and talked, deciding to leave all behind. It seemed that everything was going to be okay, but Warren showed up.

"You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?!" Warren screamed at Buffy, and laughed crazily, "think again!" out of his back he took out a gun and without any second thoughts he fired at Buffy, and ran away firing a couple more bullets without looking or aiming.

One bullet hit Buffy in the chest close to her shoulder, another bullet hit the wall of the house and the third one hit through the window of Willow's room and hit Tara right in the heart, "your shirt" were her final words as she saw Willow's shirt stained in blood, not realizing it was her blood and falling to the floor, she never knew what just happened.

Willow hurriedly kneeled next to her lover and tried to get a reaction from her, but due to where the bullet hit, there was nothing to do. Desperately she cried, shaking Tara hysterically, and then she didn't care of anything else except get her lover back, she summoned all her power, her eyes glowed red and a dark cloud appeared above her, the cloud turned into the silhouette of a face, Willow had summoned Osiris, she begged him to bring Tara back, but Osiris didn't do what asked, claiming that Tara's death was natural, caused by human actions, not mystical forces. Angry Willow made him fade away.

Willow cried harder, rocking Tara's body back and forth, then in a flash, Tara appeared in front of her, Willow looked at her confused, "Tara?... what's happening?"

"You can bring me back, you just need more power."

"What?... how?"

"The magic shop… there's plenty of magic volumes there, you can absorb all that power."

Willow nodded and walked out the room, her face neutral, full of determination.

Outside there was an ambulance, Xander had his shirt full of Buffy's blood, he just mentioned that Warren was the one who shot. That triggered Willow's anger and took off. Xander wanted to go after him but he for now had to go with Buffy in the ambulance.

Willow arrived to the magic shop, mentally she made all the magic books fly from the bookshelves to the table, when all the books were there she absorbed all the knowledge and magic in them. As she absorbed it all, her eyes and hair turned black.

Anya could do nothing but watch, as a vengeance demon she was able to feel that Willow wanted nothing more than get revenge on Warren.

Tara appeared by Willow's side, "that's my girl," she said with an evil grin. Only Willow was able to see her.


	15. Chapter 15

Willow, loaded with magic, headed to the hospital where she knew Buffy and Xander were at.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, "something's wrong," Paige told her sisters as she held her chest.

"What is it?" Piper asked her, recognizing pain in her youngest sister's face.

"I feel as if I had a deep wound, it hurts real bad," she said holding her chest tighter.

Leo approached thinking she needed healing but saw she was fine, "there's nothing," he frowned, Phoebe got closer to make sure that indeed there was nothing, she touched Paige's shoulder and was hit by a premonition, at the same time Leo said "remember that a whitelighter is able to sense what charges are going through, physically and emotionally, maybe what you're feeling…"

"Buffy," Paige said knowing it had to be her, considering she was her only charge, "I have to go there!" she started to orb but Phoebe stopped her, her vision just ended.

"Phoebe?" Piper asked her, knowing that the middle sister had a vision.

"Willow… I saw Willow kill Warren!" she said quickly, the memory of her vision still fresh in her mind, "in a horrible way… she took off his skin," she grimaced as she said this.

"Ok, orb now! Come on!," Piper said in a commanding voice, placing Wyatt in Leo's arms.

"Be careful," Leo said and the sisters orbed.

They orbed to the Hospital, where Paige felt Buffy, they appeared in a storage room to avoid being seen. They rushed through the hall to get to reception, "Summers, Buffy Summers, is she here?" Paige asked the receptionist, she looked for the name in her files, "she's in surgery at the moment, " the receptionist said and pointed to a hall.

The sisters thanked and hurried there.

"Xander!" Phoebe called when she saw him outside the surgery room, "what happened?"

He had a worried look on his face, "Warren shot her, doctors said she's unstable."

Unseen by them, Willow calmly walked to the door of the room.

"Leave" she commanded to the hospital staff, obviously they didn't obey, "now" she said firmly, manipulating their minds, the doctors left without questions.

"What are you doing? She's going to die!" Xander asked Willow, the witch calmly walked into the room, "no, she won't," Willow said in a calm and even voice.

"We need Leo!" Paige said in a rush, hearing the machines go flat.

"Willow placed her hand over Buffy's bullet wound and magically the bullet left the Slayer's body and floated to Willow's hand, the wound closing immediately. After a beat Buffy woke up.

Xander and Paige relieved hugged her, "what happened?" Buffy asked confused.

Phoebe approached Willow, "Will… what happened to you?" she asked taking in her dark appearance.

"I need to find him," Willow simply said, no emotion in her voice.

Willow walked out, the others had no choice but follow, not understanding what was going through their friend's mind.

"Drive," she told Xander once she was next to his car.

"Will…" Xander tried to reason with her.

"Warren's moving, I can feel him, now drive."

Confused, they all got into the car, Willow instructed him where to turn, they reached the outskirts of Sunnydale after a while.

"Will, I know what Warren did was wrong, but you can't take matters in your hands, we can get him into jail," Buffy tried to reason with Willow but her friend wasn't listening, she was focused on feeling Warren's location.

"Here!... turn!" Willow ordered.

"Where… there's no road," Xander wondered.

"Turn!" Willow repeated and the car wheeled on its own with Willow's magic.

They reached a road and a bus was visible in the distance, Willow stood in the middle of the road and made the bus move faster, the driver started to freak out when he realized he couldn't control the bus. Willow made the vehicle stop mere inches in front of her.

"Get out!" she commanded, Warren stepped out of the bus, the other passengers stared confused.

"Go" she ordered the driver, he obeyed and drove away.

"I… I… it was a mistake, I didn't mean to kill her," Warren said with fear.

"Oh, so you mean instead of killing my best friend you killed my girlfriend," Willow said approaching him dangerously.

"What?" Xander and Buffy asked at the same time.

"Tara is dead, so he is dead too," Willow declared.

"Oh no… Tara…" Buffy whispered, finally understanding the anger and pain Willow was feeling.

Willow made roots growing fast from the ground, trapping Warren in between, his limbs tied with the roots. Next, she held the bullet she got out of Buffy, close to his heart.

"Do you realize what you did?... what you took away from me?... from the world?!" Willow said as the bullet slowly made its way into his body, ripping skin.

"Will, don't do it!" Phoebe pleaded, she tried to get closer to Willow but she was stopped by a magical barrier. No one could reach them.

"Her death was fast… you won't be that lucky," Willow threatened, Warren cried in pain.

"You don't want to do this, you don't want to be like me," Warren managed to say in spite of the pain, hoping to stop the witch.

Willow stared at him, "you're nothing!" she spoke loudly and with a wave of her hand, she ripped Warren's skin.

The others watched in horror what just happened, Phoebe having a hard time watching it happening all over again, they couldn't prevent her premonition.

Tara appeared next to Willow, "you did what you had to do… I'm so proud," she said with an evil grin, her eyes black, matching Willow's.

"Tara?" Piper called, confused as why was she there.

"You stopped him, now you can stop every person who's as he was… you can even control all the demons," Tara talked softly to Willow, "you've always had the power to rule, I've always felt it… now you can do what you must… go to the underworld, take the Source's place."

"The Source?!" all three Halliwell sisters exclaimed at once.

"Willow you won't want to get involved with that, trust me," Phoebe said.

Willow turned to look at them, "I will end all suffering," she said and disappeared in a flash of thunderbolts and wind.

"Why are you doing this?" Piper asked Tara who remained there.

"Things are about to change," Tara said, and to everyone's surprise, she morphed into Prue, "don't even try to stop us," she said in a menacing tone.

"What's happening?" Xander asked, not fully understanding what was happening.

Prue didn't say anything, she just grinned and disappeared in a flash.

"I don't think those where really Tara and Prue," Phoebe said. The others nodded in agreement.

Down in the underworld, Willow appeared in the same spot where the Seer had become the Source briefly, she walked to the altar where the Grimoire was supposed to be. She concentrated and made the book appear in her waiting hands.

Tara's figure appeared in front of Willow, "open it," she told the redheaded witch. Willow opened the book and placed it on the altar.

"Read it," Tara said.

Willow read the first page out loud, as soon as she finished she was enveloped with energy that made her body rose from the ground. She panted and gasped, unable to control her body. Once the energy got into her body she fell to her knees.

A group of demons walked in, "who are you!" one demanded, energy ball ready in his hand.

Willow slowly stood up, but kept her back to them. "you're not supposed to be here," the demon said and threw the energy ball. Willow turned around faster than the demon expected and catch the energy ball with her bare hand, "I am mean to be here," she said and threw the energy ball back, the demon vanquished in flames. The other demons made energy balls ready to attack, but in unison they all kneeled when Willow's black eyes showed flames.

"The Source," the demons called at once bowing their heads.


	16. Chapter 16

_In case you're wondering, I'm going to mix some things from BtVS season 7 and Charmed seasons 6 through 8, I was following the plot to get to this point._

Back at the Summers's house, Xander Dawn and the Charmed ones were at the living room, all with somber expressions, down the stairs came the coroners carrying Tara's body in a black bag, Buffy held the door open for them, a third man approached her and asked her to sign a form, she did without paying any attention, her eyes following the bag that contained her friend's body.

Once the coroners left she closed the door and joined the others in the living room.

"So what are we supposed to do now?" Xander asked, "how can we find Willow?"

"For now, scry for her," Phoebe said, "I still can't believe what she did to Warren… it was so brutal."

"He deserved it," Dawn said with anger.

"Dawn…" Buffy talked softly.

"It's true! He killed Tara trying to kill you! If I could I would had done the same Willow did," Dawn argued.

"She's got a point, he's no different from any vampire you've slain or demon you've vanquished," Xander agreed.

"But he's human," Piper said.

"A human who took away the life of innocents!" Dawn said in tears now.

"He's dead, end of story," Xander snapped, "my real concern is Willow, she's going through a hard time and I want to be there for her."

The others nodded in agreement, "I'll go get the scrying crystal at the manor," Paige said and orbed.

"We need something of Willow's, and a map of Sunnydale" Piper said, Buffy went upstairs to Willow's room, she got the shirt Willow left over the bed, it still had Tara's blood on it, Dawn looked through a bookcase and got the map; when Buffy walked down the stairs Paige orbed back with the crystal.

They scryed for a while, with no results, but still they kept on trying. Later Anya transported in.

"Something's happened!" Anya said as she materialized in the middle of the living room, "Willow's the new Source."

"Are you sure about that?" Buffy asked.

Anya nodded, "Willow went to the magic box earlier, and she absorbed all the power in every volume we had, I felt her vengeance desire… and then I felt the new power and I wasn't the only one to feel the new Source's rebirth, other demons confirmed it… is her."

"How could you felt it… and… puffed in here?..." Xander asked, afraid of the answer.

"I became a vengeance demon again," Anya said pointedly.

"When…" Xander asked, Anya just glared, Xander looked down.

"What side are you?" Buffy asked.

Anya sighed, "I… I'll help you but if things get bad…" she trailed off.

"Can you sense where Willow is?" Phoebe asked Anya, she denied with her head.

"She's nowhere in the country, that's all I can tell," Anya said.

Far away, Willow flamed into an iced cave, two bodies were covered in ice.

"Emergo dormio lebertus chilus dechio," Willow chanted, the ice started to crackle, she repeated the words and the ice exploded, the traped persons were free and alive, they were wearing ancient greek togas, "welcome back, Titans," Willow said to them.

"How long?" a make titan asked.

"Thousands of years, but it doesn't matter, the point is you're here now," Willow replied.

"Who are you," the same titan asked.

"I'm the one who released you," Willow said, her eyes displaying flames, "now you're gonna return the favor… the whole world is all messed up, I brought you back so you can end everything… and start a new beginning."

"What do you get from this?" a female titan asked.

"My whole world was taken away, not by demons, but by a mere mortal… there are many as them, they don't deserve to live," Willow said with some sadness.

The titans nodded, "We have to find Cronus and free him as well," the male one said.

"Do what you think it's necessary," Willow said and she flamed out.

"Do we have to free Cronus?" the female Titan asked the other one, "he'll be furious."

"I am counting on it," he replied.

Back at Buffy's place, Phoebe kept on scrying for Willow but still without results.

"Maybe we're doing it wrong," Piper said, "we keep looking for Willow but, let's face it… who we really are looking for is the Source, so why don't we summon her and-"

"And hope she still consider us friends," Phoebe cut in, "I don't want to have to vanquish her."

"None of us want that," Buffy added, "summon her."

"I'll get crystals, just in case," Paige said and orbed away, she returned in less than a minute with a box of crystals, she placed them in a circle in the middle of the living room, "ready."

The sisters held hands and chanted, "we call to you that away was torn, return master of all evil born."

In a swirl of air and clouds, Willow appeared in the crystal cage, she tried to walk out but she was trapped.

"Let me go," Willow said looking at the Halliwell sisters.

"No, Will, we want to talk to you," Phoebe said.

"I don't want to talk, I'm busy," Willow replied in a neutral tone.

"Willow, I know you're hurt about what happened to Tara," Buffy said, "we are too, but this isn't the way to deal with it."

"Things like this won't happen again, to anyone," Willow said with a saddened expression, Tara's ghost appeared in front of her unseen by the rest.

"That's right, don't let anyone suffer what you suffered… demons aren't the only threat," Tara said with an evil smile.

"Everything is going to end," Willow said.

"What do you mean?" Xander asked her childhood friend.

"From beneath you, it devours," Willow said echoed by Tara.

This time, Tara was visible to all, "it's started," Tara morphed into Prue, "there's nothing you can do," she said and morphed into Joyce, "don't risk yourselves trying to stop this," with that she disappeared. Willow threw a fireball at one of the crystals, it moved enough for the magical cage to fade, "bye" Willow said and flamed away.

"I'm going to risk and say that those weren't the real Tara and Mrs. Summers, were them?" Xander asked out loud.

Piper shook her head, "neither was Prue."

"So what was that, a glamoured demon?" Paige asked.

"Maybe… and it must be playing with Willow's mind, manipulating her somehow," Buffy said, "ok, first thing first, guys, find if there's a way to defeat the source without hurting Willow," the Slayer took charge, she glanced at the sisters and then to the rest, "call Giles, tell him to research on the source too and tell him what happened to Willow."

The group nodded and stood up to start researching. The sisters orbed back to San Francisco to check on the Book of Shadows.

Next day, Paige orbed to Sunnydale to the Magic box looking for Buffy.

"Anything?" Buffy asked not looking away from the punching bag she was kicking, she saw the now familiar blue and white orbs.

"It could be something," Paige said as she placed a couple of jackets over the practice dummy, "remember the weird dreams I've had?" Paige asked and received a nod in response, "well, temperature in San Francisco is rising, and let me tell you, there's nothing normal about that heat."

"Is been the same here, heat has been rising… Do you think Willow is behind that?" Buffy asked kicking one last time the punching bag.

"No, not her precisely, or I don't know, but something supernatural is going on, I have a feeling."

Buffy had learned to always trust Paige's instincts, even before she knew her friend was a Charmed one.

"And you wanna find out what's happening," Buffy said.

"Yes, I've been doing some reading, and I think I found something, I came to see if you want to come."

"Sure, where are we going?"

Paige took the jackets, "we might need these."

Both orbed to a snowed mountain, "what are we looking for?" Buffy asked as she followed Paige.

"I'm not sure, I found out that the temperature changed because of an incredibly amount of power and energy was used, it took power from the earth and that's why it's all unbalanced… and I found that magic trace and lead here," Paige explained.

Buffy barely nodded, "okay… so basically we're looking for anything."

Both walked in the snow for almost half an hour, and finally they found a cave, the entrance was blocked with ice. Paige was about to grab Buffy's hand to orb inside but Buffy broke the ice with one powerful kick.

"Nice… I wish I had super strength," Paige said amazed, "or any strength at all, orbing is handy.

Carefully both walked into the cave, "I could train you, in return of you teaching me how to control the healing power," Buffy said quietly, in case they were not alone in the cave.

"You're on," Paige agreed, and then she spot something on the wall, "look… it seems as if something came out of the ice," she said pointing at the melted ice near the wall.

"You're right," Buffy said, kneeling to check on faint footprints on the snow.

"Maybe Phoebe can get a premonition from them," Paige said.

Paige grabbed Buffy's hand and orbed to the P3 where she felt Phoebe was.

Phoebe at first thought that Paige was just paranoid because of her dreams, but now that her sister came with proof and a witness she accepted to go with them.

Buffy gave Phoebe the jacket she wore and Paige orbed her sister to the snowy mountain.

A couple of minutes later they orbed back.

"So?" Buffy asked them anxious.

"I saw Willow, she was there, she freed two persons, I don't know who or what they are," Phoebe described, "they mentioned something about freeing Cronus."

"Cronus?... as in I eat all my children Cronus?" asked Paige, "I thought that was a myth."

"Same thing is said about vampires, demons and witches," Buffy said, "being myths."

"You're right, we'd better check on the Book… or history books." Phoebe suggested.

They arrived to the Manor, and told Piper and Leo what they found out, Leo said he was going to check with the Elders.

The Sisters and Buffy went up to the attic to read the book.

Piper and Phoebe had been flipping the book while Buffy helped Paige making some of their strongest potions just in case, they had a few ready when suddenly three figures showed up.

"Those two are the ones from my premonition!" Phoebe said alarmed.

Piper tried to blow them up but didn't do much harm to any of them, the woman's eyes glowed bright and at the same time, a young man orbed in and pushed Piper and Phoebe out of the way just in time before they were hit by a lighting bolt thrown by one of the males.

The man who just orbered threw the potions one after another at their attackers until they left.

"Oh no! look!" Phoebe screamed as she saw Paige and Buffy turned into stone.

"They're fine," the young man said.

"Who the hell are you?" Piper asked him.

"I'm Chris, I'm from the future."


End file.
